An Argentinian mother has spoken of her shock after her stillborn baby was found alive in a morgue.

Analia Bouter's fifth child was born at 26 weeks - around three months premature - in Argentina's northern Chaco province.

Doctors told her the baby had died, but when she and her husband visited the morgue 12 hours later, they realised their daughter was breathing.

"That night I went with my husband to where the coffin was and he opened it up," she told journalists

"Immediately I heard her cry... I fell to my knees."

The hospital the baby was born in

Her husband Fabian Veron also told journalists of the moment they realised the baby was alive: "The baby was there and they put the little casket on a stretcher. We looked for a bar to prise it open. The casket was nailed shut," he told journalist.

"My wife jumped back," he said. "I started to prise, took a deep breath and took the top off. My wife was the first one to look at the body and she uncovered it slowly.

The baby's father Fabian Veron told of his shock

"She saw the little hand and then uncovered the face. That's when it let the first little cry out."

The baby, who the couple have named Luz Milagros, is reported to be in a stable condition. The authorities in Argentina are investigating.