The careful way in which a one-year-old baby was strapped could explain why she emerged unscathed from Friday's car accident that killed her 26-year-old mother, police sources said.

Before leaving her home in St Paul's Bay, Rosianne Azzopardi had strapped baby Yasmin in the car seat positioned in the front, facing the dashboard and secured with the car's seat belt.

Paediatricians normally recommend that a baby can be transferred from a rear-facing to a forward-facing car seat when they turn one, since their neck muscles would have become stronger to take the impact of a head-on collision.

The accident happened at 4.45 a.m. when Ms Azzopardi was driving a Toyota Starlet along the Għargħur Bypass in the direction of Naxxar to drop off the child at her mother's home before going to work.

At the time, a Mitsubishi Pajero, driven by an 18-year-old man, was coming from the opposite direction when police believe it lost control and skidded onto Ms Azzopardi's lane, ramming straight into her car. She died on the spot.

Meanwhile, condolences poured in for her young husband, Mark Anthony, from his friends who prayed he would find the courage and strength to continue raising "his little angel".