Fears for safety of missing newborn grow as time goes on

Hopes that a newborn baby girl who went missing with her mother will be found alive are fading as the search approaches its third day.

Zaani Tiana, who was born five days ago, was taken out of Bristol Maternity Hospital by her mother Charlotte Bevan on Tuesday night, wrapped in nothing more than a hospital-issue blanket.

Forensic teams, search dogs, mountain climbers and mounted police are now all involved in an intensive search of area around the Avon Gorge, where a woman’s body was found late last night.

Ben Chapman has the latest from the scene:

Meanwhile, criticism has started to erupt on social media directed towards the hospital and its staff.

Some have accused them of "letting Charlotte down", while others questioned how she was able to leave the hospital unnoticed, especially having suffered what her family said were long-term mental health issues.

A statement from the hospital released yesterday said nurses had checked on mother and baby just half an hour before they noticed she was missing, and said there had been no indication that she intended to leave.

Avon and Somerset Police have stressed that taking the child out of hospital was not a crime.