Two-year-old girl dies in Brión after being left in father's car for hours
The Guardia Civil is investigating the death of a child in Brión (A Coruña) after her father left her forgotten inside a vehicle for several hours.
Two-year-old girl dies in Brión after spending hours locked in a car
A two-year-old girl died on Wednesday in Brión, a municipality in A Coruña, after remaining locked inside her father's vehicle for several hours. According to ABC, the child was taken in cardiorespiratory arrest to the Continuous Care Point (PAC) in Bertamiráns, in the municipality of Ames, where health services were unable to resuscitate her.
According to sources consulted by Europa Press, the father had forgotten the child inside the car after dropping another son off at school. A telephone call had distracted him during his usual journey and, instead of taking the girl to the nursery school, he drove directly to his business—a workshop known in the village, located above where the family lives—where he parked the vehicle and remained working all morning and part of the afternoon without realising he had not left the child at the nursery.
The day recorded temperatures above 25 degrees in the region, a circumstance that would have worsened the child's dehydration and heat exhaustion.
The alarm raised mid-afternoon
The alarm was raised around three in the afternoon, when the mother went to the municipal nursery—near the family home—to pick up the girl and discovered she was not there. It was then that both parents discovered that the child was still inside the father's vehicle. They immediately alerted emergency services and took the child to the PAC in Bertamiráns.
Health sources confirmed that the girl received assistance at that centre around 4.00 p.m. A medicalised ambulance travelled to the location to carry out resuscitation procedures, without success. The call to 112 Galicia came just before five in the afternoon, following notification from Galicia's Health Emergencies Service-061.
Along with emergency teams, Guardia Civil officers were mobilised, who took charge of the investigation to determine precisely the circumstances of the incident. The Santiago Territorial Criminal Police Team is in charge of the investigation. Additionally, the Psychological Intervention Group for Disasters and Emergencies (Gipce) was activated to provide specialised assistance to the family.
"A moment of carelessness can be fatal"
Residents of the area conveyed their distress to ABC at what had happened. Several neighbours described the father as "a very good person" and both parents as "very good people, wonderful people". "It is something tragic. And accidental. A moment of carelessness can be fatal. It is almost like an accident, it is chilling to think it could happen to anyone," said one resident.
In the shops in the area, the word "tragedy" is repeated like an echo. Those who knew the family highlighted that the parents maintained cordial relations with the neighbourhood. Pending the autopsy and the progress of the proceedings, the prevailing perception among neighbours is that it is a tragic accident.
The Brión Council declared two days of official mourning and called for a minute of silence on Friday at 12.00 hours in the square in front of the council building. In a statement on social media, the council expressed its "deepest condolences" to the family and made available to them "all municipal resources they may need during these difficult times".
The mayor, Pablo Lago, shared his "profound sorrow" to the media on Thursday: "This is a small council, where we almost all know each other and this news has caught us all off guard, it is a very sad day for us". Lago, who assured that he knew the family personally, called for not "dwelling further" on what had happened and stressed: "It could have happened to any of us, we are all rushing around and always against the clock".
Similar precedent in Galicia in 2023
The tragedy echoes a case that occurred in Galicia in July 2023, when a child of around three years old died in O Porriño (Pontevedra) after remaining several hours forgotten inside a vehicle parked in a dirt car park in the parish of Torneiros, during a day of sunshine and high temperatures. The request for health assistance came around 4.50 p.m., made by a member of the public.
In that case, the child's mother had gone to her workplace without first leaving the child at the centre where he was supposed to be looked after; the father raised the alarm when he went to pick him up in the afternoon. The evidence found from the outset by the Guardia Civil similarly pointed to a possible heat stroke. On that occasion too, Gipce was activated to assist the family.
Source: ABC