A couple have been accused of burying their two-year-old daughter up to her neck in sand and leaving her for 45 minutes in the blazing sun so they could have sex in the sea in Argentina.

Police found the child 'hungry and sunburnt' in the 95F (35C) heat in Santa Clara del Mar, 250 miles south of the capital Buenos Aires, on Monday.

The couple, both aged 29, were taken into custody after allegedly resisting arrest.

They also face drugs charges after officers found cannabis, ecstasy and more than 200 pills of the sedative Rivotril in the mother's handbag.

The couple (pictured in police custody) were arrested after burying their baby on the beach

Police also found cannabis, ecstasy and 200 pills of sedative Rivotril in the mother's handbag

The couple will be kept in custody until they appear in court and their child has been taken into temporary care.

Another man who was reportedly with the couple fled the scene before police arrived.

Other beachgoers are said to have called the police after they saw the couple performing 'obscene exhibitions' while 'diving into the sea.'

Police said that while they were in the sea 'they left a child of two years buried in the sand of the beach up to the neck.'

A source told the Argentinian newspaper Clarin: 'It was about 95 degrees Fahrenheit so imagine what that poor little girl was like.'

The father of the child is Argentinian and the mother is from Paraguay. Neither has been named.