A three-year-old child has died after allegedly being left in a locked motor vehicle in Limpopo.
The grim discovery was made at the Seshego Hospital parking lot on Monday, 27 October.
Limpopo police spokesperson, Colonel Malesela Ledwaba, said they are investigating a case of culpable homicide.
Complaint
Ledwaba said a culpable homicide case was opened at Seshego police station.
“At about 15:10, police received a complaint about a culpable homicide incident at Seshego Hospital and rushed to the premises. On arrival, they found a doctor who pointed out a blue Toyota Corolla Cross parked in the hospital yard.
“Police were informed about a 3-year-old baby girl who was allegedly found locked inside the motor vehicle with windows closed while seated in the back seat. Reports suggest that the medical practitioner pronounced the child deceased after she succumbed to the heat and lack of oxygen while locked inside the motor vehicle,” Ledwaba said.
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Locked in car
Ledwaba said the child was allegedly left alone in the car by her mother.
“Preliminary investigations indicated that in the morning, at about 7am, the deceased was allegedly left by her mother inside the motor vehicle when she rushed for a handover session at the medical facility and seemingly forgot about her in the car.
“Pathological Forensic Analysis (Postmortem) will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death, and police investigations are continuing,” Ledwaba said.
Danger
According to AccuWeather, the temperature in Seshego hovered around 22°C on Monday.
Many cases of hot-car fatalities occur within a few hours. However, within 10 minutes, a car can reach 80% of the maximum temperature, according to Wheelwell.co.za
This means that even leaving a small child in a vehicle while you “quickly run into the store” can be dangerous.
Scorching heat
Researchers from San Francisco State University found that on a 35°C day, the inside of a vehicle reached 45°C within the first 10 minutes.
After an hour, the temperature had risen to almost 60°C. Even on a cooler day, when the outside temperature was 21°C, after an hour the inside temperature reached 45°C.
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