St. Petersburg Times Online: Business

Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Girl revived 40 minutes after she's declared dead

By Wire services
Published November 9, 2003

FULLERTON, Calif. - A toddler who was revived nearly two hours after she was believed to have drowned and 40 minutes after doctors had declared her dead was responding to touch and sound Saturday, hospital officials said.

Twenty-month-old Mackayala Jespersen was in critical condition but responsive a day after she was found in her family's swimming pool, said Children's Hospital of Orange County spokeswoman Denise Almazan.

Mackayala's mother found her floating face down in the backyard pool Friday morning, police Sgt. Sean Fares said. Police and paramedics tried to revive her and rushed her to Anaheim Memorial Medical Center, where doctors pronounced her dead.

Forty minutes later, police Detective Mike Kendrick was conducting a routine investigation into the death when he noticed Mackayala's chest was moving. He summoned doctors, who were able to revive her.

Mail facilities reopen after anthrax scare

WASHINGTON - The post office has reopened 11 Washington-area facilities that had been closed after tests at a naval mail-sorting office indicated the possible presence of anthrax.

Followup tests have come back negative for anthrax.

Two of the 11 post offices were reopened Friday night, and the other nine resumed business as usual Saturday morning.

The facilities were closed Thursday after an automated alarm and a followup test indicated the presence of small amounts of biological pathogens, possibly anthrax, at the Anacostia Naval Station, which handles mail for federal agencies.

© Copyright, St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.