The temperature inside the car could have reached up to 57C.
A toddler was found dead in a car on a hot day after his stepmother reportedly failed to realise he was asleep in the back seat.
Three-year-old Miguel Antunes Versari was left for more than 10 hours as the temperature rose to 31C in Videira, Brazil. His mum’s partner was meant to take him to nursery for 7am on Friday, April 25.
However, she forgot about him after dropping her wife, Miguel’s mother, off at work, leaving him in the car. She only discovered his dehydrated body later, when she said she went to collect him.
The temperature outside was around 31C at the hottest point of the day. It could have reached up to 57C inside a hot car, a temperature similar to a warming oven, reports the Mirror.
Police are treating his death as suspicious and have launched an investigation, with the stepmother being questioned in connection.
A police spokesperson said following the shocking news: “Yesterday, she said that the child had flu-like symptoms and was medicated with ibuprofen.
“So he was not as active as usual and was sleeping in the back seat of the vehicle. After leaving her partner at work, she did not realise that the child was sleeping.”
Police are awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination to determine Miguel’s exact cause of death, and are examining CCTV footage from the family home.
In a separate incident, a four-month-old baby tragically died in the US earlier this month, after he was left by his dad.
Moshe Ehrlich, 35, had taken three of his other children to school and was supposed to take the baby boy to a childminder’s house. However, he told his wife he had forgotten the baby’s milk and needed to collect it from home.
He collected the milk before returning to the car, but failed to drop off his son and went straight to the yeshiva – a traditional Jewish educational institution – he attends in Lakewood, New Jersey. He went inside for classes at 11am, leaving the baby in the car.
At around 1.30pm, he was notified he had a call on an office line reserved for family emergencies. The childminder had contacted Ehrlich’s wife Faiga to find out what was happening as the child hadn’t been dropped off at her house.
The dad is said to have ran to his car, realising what had happened. The baby boy, whose name has not been issued, was rushed to hospital, where he was tragically pronounced dead a short time later.