Three-year-old dies of heat stroke after grandmother accidentally leaves her in car

JOHOR BARU: A three-year-old girl has died of heat stroke after being left in a car for about five hours by her grandmother.

Seri Alam OCPD Supt Mohd Sohaimi Ishak said that the incident happened on Sunday (April 25) and police were alerted after a report was lodged by a doctor at the Sultan Ismail Hospital (HSI) at around 6.41pm notifying about the child’s death inside a car at Sungai Tiram here.

“Investigations found that the grandmother had taken the victim and her elder sister to a school in Sungai Tiram on that day at around 1pm.

“The grandmother did not realise she had left her grandchild inside the car, ” Supt Sohaimi said on Wednesday (April 28).

He added that at around 6pm, the victim’s mother realised that her daughter was not at home and frantically looked for her around the premises.

“It is only then that the grandmother realised that the victim was still inside the car where they found her lying unconscious on the floor of the rear passenger seats, ” he said.

Supt Sohaimi added that a post mortem carried out at HSI on Monday (April 26) found the victim’s body was healthy and did not suffer any bruises or injuries that could have been caused by abuse.

“The doctor confirmed that the victim died from heat stroke due to vehicular entrapment and we are investigating the case under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, ” he said.

Supt Sohaimi reminded the public, in particular parents and guardians, to always be aware of children around them and not be careless in leaving them unattended.