A TODDLER is fighting for life after falling into a dam west of Melbourne.

The 13-month old boy’s condition is listed at critical after the accident at Mount Wallace, near Ballarat, the Herald Sun reports.

Paramedics from Ballan and Melton and an ambulance helicopter were called to a property at about 2pm today.

The child had been pulled from the dam by his parents.

Intensive care flight paramedic Justin Nunan said the boy was not breathing and they started CPR immediately.

“He quickly started breathing again but was having difficulty because he had breathed in and swallowed water from the dam,” Mr Nunan said.

“He was also quite cold which made it difficult to get a drip into his arm to give him life saving drugs so a special drill was used to drill into a bone in his leg.

“Because has lungs were filled with water he was severely oxygen deprived so we had to put the toddler into an induced coma and take over breathing for him.”

The boy was flown to the Royal Children’s Hospital.

Read more on the Herald Sun.