Tycoon's wife tried to save dying daughter, 2, after blind cord accident She "panicked" and ran downstairs screaming with the limp girl, who had turned blue and was not breathing, in her arms to where Mrs Hoegh, about to leave for a medical appointment, was standing in the family kitchen with a friend, Catherine Mathieson. Mrs Hoegh, whose husband, Morten, 39 divides his time between London and Oslo, had "insisted" their daughter have a nap because she had woken at 3am and had spent the morning at playgroup. None of the family had cause for concern as they listened to the "very happy" little girl reading to herself in bed, via a baby monitor, before she fell asleep after lunch. The couple's youngest child had never reached for the blind before in the "well organised" bedroom although she could climb in and out of her cot, the court heard. "A couple of minutes after [the nanny went upstairs] we heard a scream, then another scream," said the mother-of-three, as her husband, watched impassive from the public gallery. We both rushed to the door of the kitchen and met Melinda there with Alexandra in her arms. She was blue and she was not breathing. I ran downstairs onto the street. I asked my friend Catherine to call an ambulance and [I] started mouth-to-mouth breathing on her on the pavement. She added: "Her colour came back straight away, but she didn't respond in anyway that gave me cause to think that she was breathing or doing anything by herself." Her "extremely distressed" friend phoned 999 at 2.15pm, but due to her "understandable panic," struggled to tell paramedics what happened. Two ambulances were dispatched and arrived nine minutes later. Police arrived shortly after to chaotic and distressing scenes, with Mrs Hoegh "crying hysterically," her friend "collapsing and retching" and both women in a "serious state of shock." The four paramedics fought to revive the girl for several minutes before rushing to nearby St Mary's Hospital, in Paddington, west London, where a "full trauma" team was awaiting. Despite frantic efforts by senior doctors, Alexandra died just over an hour later, with her "shocked" and distraught US-born mother by her side. A post mortem examination concluded the "well-nourished and healthy" girl died of "asphyxiation by ligature suspension," with bruising visible around her neck. It is understood Mr Hoegh, the chairman of a multi-billion-pound oil and gas shipping firm based in Norway, was out of the country on business at the time and immediately flew back to Britain. Mr Hoegh, the head of the shipping firm Hoegh LNG, has a personal fortune estimated at £175 million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List and is considered one of Norway's youngest billionaires. Recording a verdict of accidental death, Dr Wilcox expressed her "sympathies" to the family and paid tribute to Mrs Hoegh who was "extraordinarily brave" to give evidence. "This is clearly an absolutely tragic and appalling death and I can't imagine how the family must feel," she added. She said she would carry out an inquiry with the Health and Safety Executive to establish whether such roller blinds have warnings about the risks to children the cords pose. Outside court, a family spokesman said: "Mr and Mrs Hoegh are devastated by the death of their daughter. The family asks at this painful time that their privacy is respected. Figures show that there have been at least 25 deaths caused by blind cords since 1999, with half of those cases occurring within the past three years.