SHANGHAI - A 13-YEAR-OLD girl in China is in a critical condition after trying to commit suicide so that her liver could be given to her cancer-stricken father, Chinese media reported on Thursday.

Chen Jin tried to kill herself last month after discovering a medical report in her mother's purse saying her father was dying of liver cancer and had only three months to live, the Shanghai Daily reported.

'Mum, I'm sorry I couldn't stay with you any longer,' the newspaper quoted her suicide note as saying. 'Please give my liver to dad and save him after my death.' Chen, who took more than 200 sleeping pills, was burned by an electric blanket after she lost consciousness, the newspaper said, adding she may need extensive surgery if she survives.

Her 43-year-old mother, Cui Lan, a laid off factory worker, said she returned home from hospital on Jan 24 to find the doors jammed from the inside, reports said.

Ms Cui broke in, finding her daughter collapsed beside the note and two empty bottles of pills.

'She loves her dad more than herself,' a tearful Ms Cui said, according to the China Daily newspaper.

Chen, who was taken to the same hospital as her father, was in a deep coma for three days, the Shanghai Daily reported. She remains in intensive care and has been drifting in and out of consciousness.

The father learned of her suicide attempt only on Wednesday after the story appeared in the media, the China Daily said.

The family, whose monthly income was about 1,000 yuan (S$220), was already struggling to cover the 100,000 yuan cost of the father's treatment, the reports said.

Hospital workers and friends donated money to help the family and a leading Chinese web portal, Sohu.com, appealed for help and published the mother's bank details.

Around 1.5 million patients in China need organ transplants each year, but only 10,000 can find organs, according to government statistics from 2007. -- AFP