Doctors have permitted a Utah toddler to leave hospital after she was rescued from a car 14 hours after it crashed into a frigid river. The permission for the release was granted on Wednesday, days after the accident that claimed the life of her mother.

"I came in, I put my finger in her hand, and I told her 'dad is here' and I loved her. She squeezed my hand and then a few hours later she tried to open her eyes. I haven't left her bedside since", said the girl's father Deven Trafny, 34.

At about 4pm, 18-month-old Lily Groesbeck was released from Lily Groesbeck, said spokeswoman Bonnie Midget. The girl is doing fine now apart from a few bruises. She is facing no trouble and is able to play and talk. She was reciting nursery rhymes, said Trafny.

When rescuers reached the baby, she was strapped into her car seat, hanging upside down as icy water flowed through the car.

The car was spotted by a fisherman on Saturday. A day earlier, the car crashed on a cement barrier on a bridge and managed to enter the river in Spanish Fork, about 50 miles south of Salt Lake City.

According to the police, no one was able to spot the car despite plenty of traffic on the road over the bridge, because the view was obstructed by the cement barrier.

Police is investigating the cause of the accident, but opined that the mother, Lynn Groesbeck, 25, might have been distracted or felt drowsy.

Spanish Fork police Lt. Matt Johnson told Salt Lake City television station KUTV on Wednesday that a bag of something very similar to marijuana was found in the car, along with pills and opened syringe. However, Johnson said it would be too early to link the accident to drugs and should wait for toxicology reports.