- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 27 May 2009 02.01 BST
The four-year-old daughter of former boxer Mike Tyson died this morning, after an accident in which she became tangled in a cord as she played on a treadmill at her home.
Exodus Tyson was pronounced dead in a hospital in Phoenix in Arizona just before noon, police spokesman Andy Hill said, a day after her seven-year-old brother discovered her with her neck caught in a cable hanging under the machine's console.
He alerted his mother, who removed the child from the cord and attempted to revive her. Emergency services also tried to resuscitate the girl as they took her to hospital, where she was put on a life support machine and her condition had been said to be"extremely critical".
Tyson, a former world heavyweight champion, 42, had been in Las Vegas at the time of the incident but flew to Phoenix on Monday.
"There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Exodus," the Tyson family said in a statement. "We ask you now to please respect our need at this very difficult time for privacy to grieve and try to help each other heal."
Police have said the death was a "tragic accident".
Earlier, describing the incident, Hill said: "Somehow she was playing on this treadmill, and there's a cord that hangs under the console, it's kind of a loop. Either she slipped or put her head in the loop, but it acted like a noose, and she was obviously unable to get herself off of it.
"There's nothing in the investigation that revealed anything suspicious."
A spokeswoman for Tyson said that the family had yet to make any funeral arrangement.
Tyson, who retired from boxing four years ago, became the youngest ever heavyweight champion at age 20. He began his career at 14 when he went to the Junior Olympics in 1982 and broke a number of records, including fastest knockout.
