The parents of sextuplets born last week are maintaining their vigil in hospital as the five surviving babies continue to fight for their lives.

Andy and Vicky Lamb, both 31, are mourning the loss of one of two boys born to them at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford last Friday.

The remaining boy, and his four sisters, are in a critical condition. The babies, who have all been given names, each weighed under 2lb when they were born 14 weeks early.

The family's spokesman Max Clifford said the couple were praying their other babies would survive after the baby boy died yesterday morning. He is thought to have been one of the smallest sextuplets.

Mr Clifford said: "They're all fighting for survival. We're taking every second, every minute, every hour as it comes.

"They're with the best people and in the best place. Andy and Vicky are so upset about losing one of the little boys and are hoping and praying the others will be okay."

Mrs Lamb took fertility drug Clomid, which stimulates ovulation, before falling pregnant with the sextuplets. She had also taken it before first child Gracie, five, was conceived.

The babies weighed between 1lb 5oz (590g) and 1lb 15oz (885g) at birth.

Their parents, from Oxfordshire, have thanked staff at the hospital for their efforts in looking after the sextuplets, who are receiving round-the-clock intensive care and specialist nursing.

Live births of sextuplets are rare, occurring approximately once in every 4.5 million pregnancies.