The number of hot car deaths in the US so far this year is double the amount at the same time last year (Picture: Getty Images)
Three young children died after being left in hot cars in the US in a five-day span – double the number of such deaths compared to last year.
A foster mum left her one-year-old child in a car when she arrived for her shift at a hospital in Washington state last Wednesday and returned nine hours later to find the baby dead.
Two days later, a four-year-old boy was discovered unconscious in an unlocked parked vehicle in Houston, Texas, and later pronounced dead.
And on Sunday, an 11-month-old girl left in a car by her parents as they went to church in Palm Bay, Florida, was found dead.
An 11-month-old baby died Sunday after being left alone in a car while her parents attended church in Palm Bay, Florida (Picture: WKMG)
The three incidents bring the total number of hot car deaths in the US so far this year to six, the Daily Mail reported. That is twice as many as the same time last year, according to California meteorologist Jan Null, who tracks them.
Last year, 33 kids died in hot cars, NBC News reported. That figure was up from the 23 deaths in 2021 and 25 deaths in 2020, according to Department of Transportation data. An especially tragic year was 2019, when 53 kids died in hot cars.
Late May through the end of summer is ‘hot car death season’, according to the group Kids and Car Safety. Season transitions can throw routines off and distract parents from watching out for their kids’ safety.
‘A change in the normal daily routine and fatigue are the most common contributing factors for a child being unknowingly left behind in a vehicle,’ stated the organization on Tuesday.
A four-year-old boy was found unconscious in a vehicle in Houston, Texas (Picture: Fox 26 Houston)
The one-year-old child left in the car outside MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup on May 24 was rushed into the facility but could not be revived. The temperature that day was 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, but inside the car it exceeded 100 degrees.
On May 25, two children were playing outside their home and got into a car as temperatures reached 88 degrees Fahrenheit. The four-year-old boy died, while a two-year-old girl he was playing with is expected to survive.
In the third incident, on May 28, the 11-month-old was found unresponsive outside the Olives Evangelical Baptist Church after being unsupervised for three hours. The temperature reached around the mid-80s.
‘This is an unfortunate incident and our condolences and prayers go out to the family,’ stated Palm Bay Police Chief Mario Augello.
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Six children have died in hot cars across the US so far this year.
