A toddler has tragically died following reports her dad “forgot” about her in the back seat of his boiling car while he went to work.
The dad in the east coast Spanish city of Castellon rushed her to hospital after finding her unconscious in the car around four to five hours later. Reports say the dad had forgotten to drop her off at nursery before heading to work, and she was left from around 11am to 4pm. The girl was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at Castellon Provincial Hospital after doctors found she had gone into cardiac arrest.
Police in confirmed overnight they had launched a manslaughter investigation following the death of the girl on Tuesday (November 5).
(Image: Google Maps)
Nobody is thought to have spotted the girl during the day and she was only discovered when her father returned from work, according to reports. An autopsy is expected to reveal the child’s death was heat-related.
Detectives have not named the dad or identified street the car was parked in.
Similar incidents have occurred in Spain in recent years. In July last year a boy, four, died in the municipality of O Porrino near the city of Pontevedra in Spain’s north-west Galician region after his mum “forgot” he was in the back of her car. She left him unattended for several hours in high heat to go to work. Reports say nobody realised the youngster was in the car for six hours.
Parents have been warned to make sure they do not leave their child in hot cars on warm days. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said “a child’s body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult’s”. The body added: “When a child is left in a vehicle, that child’s temperature can rise quickly — and the situation can quickly become dangerous.”
In September last year a baby girl died after being left in a car on a Portuguese university campus for several hours in 26C heat.
The 10-month-old child’s father, described locally at the time as a lecturer and departmental head at the campus near Lisbon, is said to have forgotten to drop her off at her creche before going to work and leaving her in the vehicle. A criminal probe was launched.
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