A newborn was discovered dead after being abandoned in a hot car in sweltering heat by the baby’s dad, who allegedly neglected to drop the infant off at the nursery before leaving for work.
The baby was discovered dead in a parking lot at the Safran aerospace firm in Bordes, southwest France, on Wednesday afternoon. An inquiry has been opened.
According to reports, the 14-month-old was allegedly forgotten by his dad and left in the hot car that was parked outside of his place of employment.
Public prosecutor Cecile Gensac said on Friday that “early investigations show that the tiny infant died of asphyxia and dehydration.”
This week, the southern regions of France had record heat and wildfires, but when the infant died, the temperature had reached about 22C. (71.6F).
When the mom of the infant saw that her 14-month-old had not gone to childcare by Wednesday, she first called for help.
Around 5 o’clock in the evening, emergency personnel arrived at the scene and started trying to revive the youngster.
Mr. Gensac, the public defender, said that not a sound was made.
The precise reason for the baby’s demise has not yet been determined by an autopsy.
The child’s parents, who have never had a criminal record between them, were reportedly brought to a hospital in Pau after going into shock.
There are now psychological support groups for the personnel at the kid’s nursery, which looks after about 80 kids.
For a little over a week, flames in the Gironde region, which is in the southwest of France and surrounds Bordeaux, torched an area about twice the size of Paris out of tinder-dry grass and pine forest.
Numerous animals at a nearby zoo have died from heat exhaustion and stress, and more than 30,000 humans had to be evacuated.
Monday’s temperatures reached 42.4C (108.5F), as around 2,000 firefighters worked to put out fires alongside water-bombing aircraft and helicopters.
Following a devastating and record-breaking heatwave that swept through Europe and delivered widespread temperatures above 40C (104F), which turned the continent into a tinderbox.
In comparison to the normal year, there have been four times as many fires reported so far this year in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Slovenia.
