An 18-month-old baby died after being found unconscious with hyperthermia in a car on 23 June in Marseille, apparently forgotten by a parent on the La Timone medical campus car park while going to work.
A baby has died in hospital after being found in an overheated car during a severe heatwave in Marseille, the hospital said on Friday. It is already the fourth such death to occur in France this week, after a case in Val-d'Oise on Thursday and two in Carpentras on Monday.
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The civil protection service said it had rushed the 18-month-old infant to the paediatric unit after finding the child suffering from hyperthermia in a vehicle on Tuesday, in the car park of the Timone University Hospital campus, which belongs to Aix-Marseille University.
The baby was taken to the accident and emergency department at Timone hospital in a critical condition. The child ultimately died in hospital. It is not yet known when the baby died, as the death was only announced on Friday 26 June.
Temperatures in the city of Marseille reached 33 °C on Tuesday, while the Bouches-du-Rhône département was on orange alert for a heatwave.
"It is with deep sadness that we learned of the tragic incident that occurred on the Timone campus. We extend our sincerest condolences to the victim's family and loved ones. We also express our support for all those who witnessed or have been affected by this tragic event," said Éric Berton, president of Aix-Marseille University, in a statement sent to AFP. The university has set up a listening and psychological support unit for staff and witnesses_._
An investigation has been opened by the public prosecutor's office to determine the circumstances of the child's death. It has been entrusted to the territorial crime division. According to media reports, the child's parent is thought to have forgotten the child in the car when going to work on campus.
Sadly, this is not the first case of a child dying from heat inside a vehicle.
A three-year-old child died after becoming trapped in a car in Saint-Gratien in the Val-d'Oise département, near Paris, in extreme heat, the Pontoise public prosecutor announced on Thursday. The boy had climbed into the family car while his father thought he was having a nap; he then found himself unable to get out because of the child lock.
On Monday, the bodies of two children, aged two and four, were found in the family car in a residential car park in Carpentras, in the south of France.
The two children are believed to have got into the vehicle after slipping from their mother's supervision, and then become trapped inside.
