In the blazing sun

Father forgot little daughter in car – child dead

Experts repeatedly warn against leaving children in closed cars in summer temperatures.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Filippo MONTEFORTE)

A one-year-old toddler has died in a heated car in Italy after being trapped in the vehicle for several hours in the blazing sun. The father had simply forgotten to take his little daughter to nursery in the morning.

Instead, the man drove to his workplace and parked his car in a parking lot in an industrial area.

In the area in northern Italy, temperatures reached up to 34 degrees in the shade. The man only realized several hours later that he had forgotten his daughter in the locked car when he and his colleagues went out for their lunch break.

Father in shock
Emergency services were alerted and could only determine that the child had died. The father was taken to hospital in the Mestre district of Venice suffering from shock and is now receiving psychological support together with the toddler's mother.

Large parts of Italy have been hit by a heatwave for several days. The south of the Mediterranean country has been particularly affected. In the north, it is a little more bearable at just over 30 degrees.