Story highlights The baby girl may have been trapped in the car in the cold river for about 14 hours 
 
 Her mother was found dead in the driver's seat 
 
 (CNN) When a man went to a Utah river Saturday hoping to haul out fish, he inadvertently saved the life of a baby who had been trapped -- possibly for half a day. 
 
 The angler waded into the Spanish Fork River around noon and then noticed a car upside-down in the water, public safety officials said in a statement. 
 
 Rescuers arrived and tipped the four-door car onto its side. They found the 18-month-old girl strapped in her car seat, still alive. The baby was taken to a Salt Lake City hospital, where she was in critical condition. 
 
 Rescuers also found the body of Lynn Jennifer Groesbeck, the girl's mother, in the driver's seat. She was 25 years old. 
 
 A resident nearby told authorities that he had heard a loud crash the night before around 10:30 and stepped outside to check, but saw nothing unusual, police said. 
 
 Read More ||||| SPANISH FORK, Utah (AP) — A baby survived a car crash in a frigid Utah river after being strapped in a car seat upside-down for about 14 hours before being found by a fisherman. 
 
 Police said Sunday the 18-month-old girl's condition was upgraded from critical to stable but critical condition at a Salt Lake City hospital, but her 25-year-old mother, Lynn Groesbeck of Springville, was found dead in the car. 
 
 Police Lt. Matt Johnson says a fisherman discovered her car on its top about 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the Spanish Fork River in Spanish Fork near Provo. 
 
 He says a nearby resident reported hearing "something" about 10:30 p.m. Friday, but was unable to locate anything out of the ordinary. 
 
 Police say the infant was found hanging upside down above the river water that flowed through the car. ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video 
 
 When a man went to a Utah river Saturday hoping to haul out fish, he inadvertently saved the life of a baby who had been trapped -- possibly for half a day. 
 
 The angler waded into the Spanish Fork River around noon and then noticed a car upside-down in the water, public safety officials said in a statement. 
 
 Rescuers arrived and tipped the four-door car onto its side. They found the 18-month-old girl strapped in her car seat, still alive. The baby was taken to a Salt Lake City hospital, where she was in critical condition. 
 
 Rescuers also found the body of Lynn Jennifer Groesbeck, the girl's mother, in the driver's seat. She was 25 years old. 
 
 A resident nearby told authorities that he had heard a loud crash the night before around 10:30 and stepped outside to check, but saw nothing unusual, police said. 
 
 If that sound was the car going into the river, then the baby was trapped in the car for about 14 hours. 
 
 Police are investigating the incident as a traffic accident, though many questions remain unanswered. 
 
 "This is just a tragedy all the way around," Spanish Fork Police Lt. Matt Johnson said. "There's not anything at the scene, as far as evidence goes, as why the vehicle left roadway. There were no skid marks to show evasive maneuvers, to show why the vehicle left the roadway and traveled into the river." 
 
 The car was towed and is being examined to determine whether there was brake failure or some other malfunction, Johnson said. 
 
 Family members of the mother told police she had left Salem, Utah, and was supposed to be heading to her home in Springville, about 9 miles away. 
 
 The baby, who was in a car seat in the rear passenger side, was not submerged during the ordeal, Johnson said. 
 
 Three police officers and four firefighters were treated at a hospital for hypothermia. The rescuers have since been released. ||||| Play Facebook 
 
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 A baby was found alive but in critical condition inside a wrecked car in Utah Saturday, 13 hours after the car the child was in plunged into a river, police said. The child's mother was found dead in the car when an fisherman discovered the crashed vehicle at around 12:20 p.m. Saturday afternoon. 
 
 Police believe the car hit a cement barrier on a bridge at around 10:30 p.m. Friday night and ended up in the Spanish Fork River in Spanish Fork, a city of around 37,000 people south of Provo. 
 
 The 4-door Dodge was upside down and resting on its roof and the 18-month-old girl was found locked in a car seat in the rear passenger seat, police said. The baby's 25-year-old mother was dead in the driver's seat when first responders arrived, Spanish Fork Police said in a statement. 
 
 The baby was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Salt Lake City in critical condition, authorities said. Police did not release any names in the incident, citing pending notification of family members. 
 
 Relatives told police that the woman was driving home to Springville from a family member's home in Salem when the crash occurred, cops said. 
 
 — Phil Helsel ||||| SPANISH FORK -- An infant is in critical condition at Primary Children’s Hospital having survived more than 14 hours in her car seat in an upside down vehicle in a river. 
 
 Her 25-year-old mother had died in the driver’s sea before the Dodge 4-door passenger car was discovered in the Spanish Fork River. 
 
 Investigators believe the vehicle struck the cement barrier on the south end of the bridge and traveled into the river, said Lt. Matt Johnson, Spanish Fork Police. 
 
 “It is unknown why the vehicle left the roadway,” Johnson said. 
 
 An angler had been fishing in the river Saturday when he came across the crash scene near the Spanish Fork Main Street and the Arrowhead Trail Road junction shortly after noon. Officers received the call at 12:24 p.m. 
 
 Upon arrival of emergency services the vehicle was tipped on its side and that is when the 18-month-old girl was discovered. 
 
 Three police officers and four firefighters were transported to Mountain View Hospital to be treated for hypothermia. The officers and firefighters have since been released. 
 
 The infant was transported to Mountain View Hospital by ambulance and then airlifted to Primary Children’s Hospital. 
 
 Family members of the deceased reported that the mother left a residence in Salem Friday at approximately 10 p.m. and was traveling to her residence in Springville. A resident near the accident scene said he heard something that evening at approximately 10:30. 
 
 “He checked the area but did not locate anything out of the ordinary,” Johnson said. 
 
 The names of the victims have not been released pending notification of other family members. 
 
 The Utah Highway Patrol is assisting the Spanish Fork Police Department with the investigation.
– A fisherman spotted an overturned car in a Utah river yesterday—and when first responders showed up, they looked inside and found a dead mom and her 18-month-old girl still alive some 14 hours after the accident may have happened, NBC News reports. Police officers "tipped the car on its side and were able to get the infant out," police lieutenant Matt Johnson tells the Daily Herald. The mother—identified by the AP as Lynn Groesbeck, 25, of Springville—was in the driver's seat, and the infant in the back. Authorities say a helicopter flew the baby from Spanish Fork River, south of Provo, to a Salt Lake City hospital in critical condition, where she was upgraded to stable but critical. "This is just a tragedy all the way around," Johnson tells CNN. "There's not anything at the scene, as far as evidence goes, as why the vehicle left roadway. There were no skid marks to show evasive maneuvers." That said, KTLA reports that police say the mother may have hit an embankment at one end of the bridge and fallen into the river. A resident says she heard a big crash at about 10:30 Friday night, but went outside and saw nothing. If that timing is true, then the baby—who was not underwater during the ordeal—survived more than half a day before being hauled out yesterday afternoon.