5-year-old trapped in washing machine

• Tweet

OKANOGAN, Wash., Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A 5-year-old girl was trapped inside a running washing machine at a Washington state Laundromat until her mother broke the window to rescue her, officials said.

Police in Okanogan Country said a 29-year-old Malott woman was doing laundry at an Okanogan laundromat when her daughter either climbed into or was pushed into a machine with an out-of order sign, The Wenatchee (Wash.) World reported Monday.

When the door was closed the machine started automatically, locking the door shut, Okanogan County Undersheriff Joe Somday said.

When the door could not be opened, the mother ran to her car and got a wrench she used to break the glass in the machine's door, he said.

As the child was pulled from the machine she suffered a 10-inch cut on her back, and the mother also suffered cuts from the broken glass.

Both were treated at a local hospital.

The laundromat's owner and a maintenance person both told deputies they had been unable to get the machine to start earlier and placed the sign on it.