Runaway baby trapped inside bank vault

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/38/20110228/tod-runaway-baby-trapped-inside-bank-vau-045b8e8.html

A 14-month-old baby spent four hours trapped inside a US bank vault during a visit with her mother, police in Atlanta have confirmed.

.Reports state that as the baby girl and her mother were waiting for her grandma - an employee of the bank - on Friday evening, she wandered off on her own.

According to a TV reconstruction of the incident, the little girl can be seen roaming into a time-locked vault with the door then slamming shut behind her just as the bank closed for the day.

As the vault was set on a timer-release, the door would have stayed locked for the entire night had bank staff not been alerted to her presence by CCTV cameras.

Employees were unable to open the vault's door without the aid of professional technicians at the Wells Fargo branch in Conyers, Georgia.

Rescue services arrived on the scene after the girl's guardians notified authorities.

During the rescue, emergency services pumped fresh air through vents into the vault while a locksmith tried to bust the door open with a large drill.

Rod Snively, the locksmith who worked to free the toddler, spoke of the girl's terrifying ordeal to the US press. He said: "She was scared because of the drilling noise and all that but once I heard her crying I knew everything was OK, it was just a matter of time. Other than a child being in there, it was a routine job."

Conyers Police Chief Gene Wilson told The Associated Press that the whole rescue mission was 'very tense'.

The as-yet-unnamed baby was rescued at around 9pm after the vault's lock was finally disabled and safely reunited with her worried mother.

Chief Wilson said: "That was one of the better moments I've ever witnessed."

Conyers Police Department was unavailable for comment.

Written by Gaby Leslie