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A tragic toddler died in agonising pain after being 'eaten alive' by ants having been virtually ignored by her vile mother.

Little 18-month-old Luna Estefania died in hospital after childcare workers reportedly found her covered in ants and unable to escape after being paralysed in an earlier fall.

The girl reportedly fell because her mother was not paying adequate attention to her.

The baby had also suffered a severe blow to the head when she was just two months old, although it could not be determined what had caused it.

When the actions of the mother, Mariana Lizeth Salas Hernandez, 20, came to light they shocked the local community in the southern Mexican city of Chihuahua.

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According to investigators, Hernandez neglected the toddler and reportedly did not feed her for 15 days at the end of April and the beginning of May that year.

Police and childcare officials were alerted by a neighbour who claimed the girl was not being supervised properly.

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Inspectors found the toddler severely malnourished and covered in ants, which had reportedly eaten parts of her body.

Authorities placed the girl in a hospital immediately, but she died two months later in what doctors said must have been agonising pain.

The woman was jailed for murder and also fined 238,500 MXN (£9,456).