Updated

Texas police say a 5-year-old girl was hospitalized Tuesday after she somehow got trapped inside a running washing machine.

Pasadena police say the child "was tumbling pretty fast" for several minutes before a customer noticed at Le's Washateria laundromat. The girl was airlifted to a Houston hospital. Police say she is expected to survive.

Police could not say how the girl became trapped inside the machine nor how it was started. Police say the manager told a woman who had tried to use the machine earlier that it wasn't working correctly and returned her money.

Police told MyFoxHouston.com that it appears the girl managed to get inside the machine when the adult woman she was with wasn't watching.

The laundromat owner says an employee used circuit breakers to stop the machine.

It's unclear who was watching the child. Police are investigating.

The Associated Press contributed to this report