A five-year old girl has died after being left in a parked car at the Hospital Shah Alam car park. This tragedy happened on Tuesday, when the child’s mother, a staff at the hospital, inadvertently left her daughter in the Perodua Axia after picking her up from kindergarten at 2pm.
According to Shah Alam district police chief Mohd Iqbal Ibrahim, the child was asleep when the engine was turned off. The woman realised that her child was in the car at 6pm, when her husband called. The girl was then rushed to the emergency room unconscious and was declared dead after attempts to resuscitate her failed.
A post-mortem was conducted yesterday and no internal or external injuries were found, said Mohd Iqbal, who added that investigations are being done under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act, and if found guilty, the mother can face a fine of no more than RM50,000, or jail not more than 20 years, or both.
“The public is advised to be more careful when picking up their children from school or kindergarten, especially those who are still young, so that incidents like this don’t happen again. Any individual who has any information on the case can call inspector Syer Aidid at 013-6544996,” Mohd Iqbal said.
Cases such as this have been happening of late, perhaps due to forgetfulness, a long to-do list and stress, or a combination of the above. One way to help keep your child at the top of mind is to place an essential item in the rear seats near him/her so that you have to go around to retrieve it before leaving the car.
A video uploaded in 2015 (above) by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) demonstrated just how dangerous heatstroke can be for dogs left in cars. NFL player Tyrann Mathieu, a professional athlete, lasted just eight minutes before having to escape a car under direct sunlight, at which point the cabin was measured at 48.9 degrees Celsius.
A child’s body heats up much more quickly than an adults – think of how small ice cubes melt more quickly than much larger ones – which means they are far more susceptible to the dangers of heatstroke compared to adults. Fifteen minutes in a heated car interior could cause life-threatening brain or kidney injuries, and when the child’s body temperature reaches 40 degrees Celsius, internal organs shut down, and at 41.6 degrees Celsius, death could occur.
Check, check and check.
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