Emergency responders raced to the scene in Linares and spent several minutes trying to revive the three-year-old tot – after freeing him from the vehicle and discovering he didn’t have a heartbeat
A three-year-old boy has died in a popular Spanish tourist town after he was found trapped inside a parked car in scorching 27C heat.
Emergency responders, including police and paramedics, raced to the scene after a 999 call was made from a member of the public just before 3pm this afternoon. They tried to revive the tot for several minutes after freeing him from the vehicle and discovering he didn’t have a heartbeat. The child was then rushed to a local hospital where he was tragically pronounced dead. The incident happened in Linares in the Andalucian province of Jaen, home to the Andres Segovia House Museum dedicated to celebrated classical guitarist Andres Segovia.
Spanish police have now launched an investigation to clarify what happened. It was not immediately clear this afternoon if the person who called the emergency services was a passer-by who happened to see the child in the car or was related to the youngster. It is not known how long the boy had been in the vehicle.
The car was parked in a street called calle Pintor El Greco, in a residential area of Linares not far from the centre. The town registered top temperatures of around 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday. If police discover the youngster had accidentally been left in the car by a forgetful loved one it will not have been the first tragedy of its kind.
In April, a three-year-old child died after his 39-year-old aunt “forgot” to drop him off at nursery and left him sleeping on the back seat of her car in searing heat. She went to work and only realised six hours later what she had done when she returned to the vehicle on a lunch break – alerting police and firefighters who rushed the youngster “in a bad way” to hospital where he suffered fatal cardiac arrest. The tragedy happened in the Brazilian city of Sao Jose de Rio Preto in the province of Sao Paulo. Detectives said at the time they had launched a manslaughter probe.
In November 2023, two-year-old Apollo Gabriel Rodrigues died after his school mini bus driver and wife – who worked as a monitor – allegedly forgot about him in the back of the van. Flavio Robson Benes, 45, discovered the child unconscious on a back seat of the vehicle and rushed him to hospital, but he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
He and his partner, named at the time as 44-year-old Luciana Coelho Graft, were questioned by police as part of a homicide investigation ahead of the youngster’s funeral. The minibus was part of a free school transport scheme operated by the city council.
Apollo’s mum Kaliane Rodrigues recalled at the time how her son had been crying when she handed him over around so he could be taken to his nursery because he “didn’t want to go.” She told local media: “Apollo usually went in the front but the driver’s assistant put him on the back seat and forgot about him.
“Regardless of where she placed him in the van, she’s been negligent and irresponsible because anyone who works with children has to always be attentive. I want justice. All I want is for justice to be done.”