An 18-month-old boy has died inside a hot car after his dad reportedly thought that he had left him at day care. Emergency services were called after reports of a child in a vehicle. When they arrived, the Fire Department confirmed the toddler had died.
An investigation has now been launched as officers work to establish exactly what happened. The incident happened in Plantation, Florida, USA, on Monday afternoon. Police were called to A World of Discovery Academy after receiving what they described as “a report of a deceased child in a vehicle”.
Plantation Police said: “Upon arrival, Plantation Fire Department sadly confirmed the child was deceased.”
Leslie Novoa, the director of A World of Discovery Academy, later told the South Florida Sun Sentinel the boy’s father had been due to drop him off at the nursery that morning but mistakenly believed he already had.
She said the mistake only became apparent when he returned later in the day to collect his son.
Ms Novoa said she was the one who opened the back door of the vehicle and immediately called 911.
Speaking after the incident, she said: “This is a tragedy that happened to them and to all of us.”
She also described the child’s parents as a “wonderful family”.
According to local reports, the father believed he had left his son at the bilingual early education centre before continuing with the rest of his day.
Temperatures in Plantation reached around 94F (34C) on Monday, while the heat index climbed to about 102F (39C), according to AccuWeather.
The incident is the third child hot-car death reported in Florida this year.
Last month, a three-year-old boy died after being left in a vehicle outside his home in Hillsborough County.
Local broadcaster WFLA reported that the child’s father found him unresponsive inside the car, with that investigation still ongoing.
