Toddler dies after being left in car for 5 hours

PETALING JAYA: A one-year-old girl allegedly died after she was left inside a car by her father for more than five hours in Kulai, Johor Baru yesterday.
In a freak case of negligence, the father of the child had driven to work without realising his baby was in the backseat of the car.
Kulai Police chief Superintendent Razak Md Said said that the girl’s father had lodged a police report about the incident at 4.15pm yesterday afternoon.
“According to the report, his wife had placed the toddler in the back seat of his car so that he could send her to the nursery which was located near the couple’s home in Bandar Putra at 9.30am,” he said.
He explained that the father had left the house and went straight to his workplace in Saleng without realising that his daughter was in the backseat of the car.
Realisation had struck only when the babysitter called the father at around 3pm to inquire as to why they had not sent the baby to the nursery as per usual.
“The father immediately rushed to the car and found the girl in a weak state and he believed her to have died,” said Razak.
Razak explained that the father had then rushed the girl to the Kulai Hospital where she was pronounced dead by the medical officer on duty.
“A post mortem will be conducted tomorrow morning (Sept 14) to ascertain the cause of death,” Razak added.
He said the case is being investigated under Section 31(a) of the Child Act 2001 for neglecting a child resulting in death.