'Punishment' shower kills Austrian girl

A two-year-old Austrian girl has died after allegedly being put in a scalding-hot shower by her father as a punishment, the hospital where she was being treated says.

"Despite all the doctors' efforts the child died at midday from her serious injuries," said Christoph Mierau, a spokesman for the Vienna Hospitals Association, said on Monday.

The girl had been in intensive care for two weeks.

Prosecutors are investigating the parents, who have two other children, for alleged mistreatment of a minor with fatal consequences.