A baby has died after he was trapped in the baggage collection conveyor belt at a Spanish airport following a flight from London.

The child's American mother flew into Alicante-Elche airport at 11pm on Wednesday with her baby and other young child on an EasyJet flight from Gatwick Airport, sources at the airport said.

She placed the child inside a baby carrier on a stropped heavy baggage collection belt which was activated by the weight, setting it in motion. Her Canadian husband was waiting for the family in the arrivals zone when the incident happened at around 11.30pm.

The family were reportedly in Spain for a holiday in the nearby resort town of Denia on eastern Spain's Costa Blanca.

A Guardia Civil spokesman said "We are still in the early stages of the investigation and looking at CCTV footage, but it seems that it was an accident. The mother left the baby on the conveyor belt, which can be activated by detecting weight or by an airport employee".

"It seems that the baby carrier's weight activated the belt and the child was trapped in the rollers in the drop zone" he added.

Guardia Civil officers on duty at the airport alerted emergency services. Despite attempts to resuscitate the baby, he was pronounced dead by the airport's on-call doctor at the scene.

A post-mortem examination is expected to take place on Thursday or Friday.