Ten-month-old baby dies after being left in a car in 26C after Portuguese father forgot to drop her off at daycare on his way to work
- Father left the child in the parking lot of NOVA University in Lisbon between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
A girl has died after being left in a car for hours on a Portuguese university campus in 26-degree heat.
The 10-month-old child’s father, described locally as a teacher and head of department at the campus near Lisbon, allegedly forgot to drop her off at daycare before going to work and left her in the car.
He reportedly called 911 after realizing his tragic mistake and discovering the youngster unconscious in the car.
Attempts to revive her proved unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The unnamed father is said to have parked the family’s SEAT Ateca car at the campus nursery around 8am on Tuesday before going to his office at the Nova School of Science and Technology, a faculty of the NOVA University of Lisbon, located at the Caparica Campus in Almada, half an hour’s drive south of the Portuguese capital.
The father, described locally as a lecturer at the Nova School of Science and Technology near Lisbon (pictured), called 999 after discovering his 10-month-old unconscious in the car.
The unnamed father is said to have parked the family’s SEAT Ateca car at the campus nursery around 8am on Tuesday. He did not return to the car until 3:30 p.m.
The alarm was not raised until 3.30 pm when it was already too late to save the youngster’s life.
Investigators are said to be working on the theory that the baby girl, named Madalena according to the Portuguese press, was asleep when she was left and her father simply forgot she was there.
Due to the heat of 26 degrees Celsius outside, the temperature in the closed vehicle could have possibly doubled.
The girl’s parents, including her mother who reportedly arrived at the scene around the time emergency services arrived, have received psychological support.
The autopsy results have yet to be released and are not expected to be made public.
The Policia Judiciaria police in the town of Setubal near Almada are conducting an ongoing investigation.
Prosecutors confirmed yesterday that a criminal investigation had been launched.
A three-year-old boy died in July in the municipality of O Porrino near the town of Pontevedra in the northwestern region of Galicia after his mother “forgot” he was in the back of her car and left him unattended in the car for several hours. eighty degree heat to go to work.
The boy was said to have been alone in the car for six hours before anyone noticed.
In August 2018, a ten-month-old girl died in the Mallorcan city of Manacor after her grandfather left her in the back of his car for eight hours in temperatures of up to 30 degrees Celsius, after forgetting to leave her at a kindergarten. .
He found her dead when he returned to the vehicle several hours later after running errands. The unnamed man later accepted a one-year prison sentence in March 2020.