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Boy, 3, found dead in hot car after ‘getting trapped inside’ during 44C heatwave in France

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Two youths cool off in a fountain near the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Two youths cool off in a fountain near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Picture: getty

By Asher McShane

A three-year-old boy died of heat suffocation in a hot car as temperatures surged to 44C in France.

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The boy died in the Paris suburb of Saint-Gratien. He was supposed to have taken a nap inside his home but woke up and without his parents’ knowledge went into the car, according to French police.

The car doors were unlocked from the outside but the child-lock activated and so he could not get out. He died yesterday evening when the outside temperature would have been in the high 30s.

When the external temperature is 30C and above, temperatures inside a closed car can quickly reach between 50C and 60C within just 15 to 30 minutes.

A group of teenagers throw water at a cyclist next to the Canal Saint-Martin during a heatwave, in Paris
A group of teenagers throw water at a cyclist next to the Canal Saint-Martin during a heatwave, in Paris. Picture: Getty

The boy’s distraught parents tried to resuscitate him, but he was later declared dead by emergency workers.

On Monday, two siblings aged two and four died in similar circumstances in the southern French town of Carpentras.

The children, aged two and four, died as temperatures in France surged to nearly 39C amid an unprecedented heatwave. 

They were found lifeless in a car parked in their grandmother’s garden in the French town of Carpentras, south eastern France, on Monday. 

Their 33-year-old mum had “forgotten her children” while out shopping, a police source told Le Parisien.