A one-year-old baby girl died in Durban's Umlazi suburb after boiling porridge fell on her, police said on Tuesday.

Captain Khephu Ndlovu said the incident took place while the baby, Noluthando Mkhize, was in her grandmother's care at her F Section home on Monday afternoon.

"The grandmother left the porridge on the stove and went outside with the baby," he said.

The little girl apparently crawled back into the house and tried to pull the porridge off the stove.

"The pot fell and the boiling porridge fell on her. She died in the hospital," said Ndlovu.

Police have opened an inquest docket.