Chinese grandma, baby rescued from sweltering locked car after family row

BEIJING: An elderly woman and her one-year-old grandson had to be rescued from a locked car parked under the sweltering heat in eastern China after her daughter locked them in after a family row, a newspaper reported.

Police in Jiangxi province had to smash their way into the car with hammers, the Jiangnan City Daily reported.

The pair were abandoned in the Audi Q7 car on their way from Nanchang to Ji'an for a family outing on Sunday, the newspaper said.

Amid the sweltering heat - with temperatures reaching 30 degrees Celsius - the two trapped passengers began suffocating.

The older woman tried calling her daughter to let them out, but was unable to reach her. She later called other family members and the traffic police for help.

The daughter told traffic police over the phone the car was not hers and immediately hung up, according to the article. She later turned off the phone.

Police had to use several hammers to smash the car windows in order to rescue the trapped passengers.

Both victims were rescued about two hours after police were notified about the incident.

The baby was drenched in sweat and unable to speak, the report said.

His mother later blamed herself multiple times for what had happened and thanked officers for their rescue efforts, the report said.

But internet users expressed anger over her actions.

"Was this woman trying to kill them?" one person wrote.

Another said: "Good on them for breaking the car windows."

In July last year, two kindergarten pupils died in Dacheng county in Hebei after they were locked inside a school bus the whole day. - South China Morning Post