Florida baby dies in hot car after parents abandon her for church service

In a shocking incident of hot car death, a baby died after her parents left her inside a car and went to attend church service for three hours.

An 11-month-old baby reportedly died in a hot car after her parents left her inside as they went to attend a church service. The incident took place at the Mount of Olives Evangelical Baptist Church in Palm Bay, about 900 km south of Washington D..

The baby was reportedly unresponsive when the police arrived. She was pronounced dead soon after reaching the hospital.

According to a police statement, the baby had been accidentally left in the car for around three hours while her parents attended church.

"This is an unfortunate incident, and our condolences and prayers go out to the family," said Palm Bay Police Chief Mario Augello.

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The investigation into the incident is ongoing. Police did not say whether they expect to file charges.

In the United States, such incidents are referred to as hot car deaths. Across the nation, about 38 children are lost to hot car deaths every year.

"We know that a car can heat up 20 degrees above the outside temperature within 10 minutes," Dr Kevin Campbell of Health First by KKTV News.

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So, if it is 26.67 degree Celsius outside, after a little more than 10 minutes, children are already at risk.

"If a child gets close to 40 degree Celsius, that's when their temperature can cause problems, and you start to see heat stroke. Above 41.67 degrees, we see death," Campbell said.

Even cracking a window does not do much good, according to the Kids and Cars organisation.

"The most important thing for people to know is this can happen to absolutely anyone. There's no norm to it," Jeanne Fennell, the president and founder of Kids and Cars, was quoted as saying by KKTV news.

Across the United States, there remains a concern that after a dip in hot car deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, the numbers may rebound this summer.

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