Parents leave baby in 40ºC car while they go shopping in Sevilla

A baby’s cries were the only warning that something was terribly wrong inside a car sitting in the Sevilla heat. By the time help arrived, the situation had become serious enough for police to take a drastic step to reach the infant. The vehicle was sitting in the August sun as temperatures approached 40ºC.

Inside, a baby was unable to get out or escape the heat, while the adults responsible for the child were nowhere to be seen. A passer-by heard the crying and raised the alarm, bringing the Policía Nacional to the scene. What officers found when they reached the car led them to act immediately.

Officers find baby in distress

The car was locked, with only one window partially open. The baby was inside alone, exposed to the heat building up inside the vehicle. Officers found the child’s face red and the clothes soaked with sweat. They also observed signs of thermal congestion, indicating that the heat was already affecting the infant.

There was no time to wait for whoever had left the child there to return. Police forced open the vehicle and pulled the baby to safety before an ambulance took the infant to a health centre for medical assessment.

Parents had gone shopping

The parents, who the officers had been waiting for, eventually returned to the vehicle. Shockingly they told police they had gone to a nearby supermarket to do their shopping. That meant the infant had been left alone inside the car while the parents were away shopping, despite the extreme temperatures outside and the vehicle being parked in direct sunlight.

It was only after they returned that officers were able to establish where the child’s parents had been. By then, the baby had already been removed from the vehicle and taken for medical assessment. The explanation did not prevent the parents from being detained. Both were arrested on suspicion of a crime involving the abandonment of a minor.

A window left open was not enough

The vehicle had not been completely sealed, but the partially open window did little to change the danger created by the combination of direct sunlight and extreme outdoor temperatures. Research into hot vehicles has found that opening a window does not prevent temperatures inside from reaching dangerous levels. Tests by RACE found that even with windows open, temperatures inside vehicles exposed to the sun can climb above 50ºC.

For babies and young children, the risk is particularly serious because their bodies cannot regulate temperature as effectively as adults. In Sevilla, officers could already see the physical effects when they reached the vehicle.

Investigation follows emergency rescue

Unfortunatly for Spain, this is not the first case of a child being left alone in the this weather in a car. For these parents’ their decision to leave the baby behind while they went shopping will now form part of the investigation into the incident. Police have not said exactly how long the parents were away or how long the infant had been inside the vehicle before the passer-by heard the crying.

What is known is that the baby was still inside when the alarm was raised, and was already showing signs of heat distress when officers arrived. The immediate danger ended when police broke into the car and removed the infant, who was then taken for medical attention. Both parents remain under investigation following their arrests over the alleged abandonment of their child.