2-year-old girl dies after being left inside car for 4 hours

PORT DICKSON, Malaysia — A two-year-old girl died after she was left inside a car by her mother.

She was believed to have succumbed to heatstroke.

Hasmah Masroh, 32, found her daughter, Nur Awfa Humaisha’ Muhammad Ali Riduan, unconscious after she realized that she was still in the car at the Port Dickson Vocational College here.

Port Dickson OCPD Supt Zainduin Ahmad said preliminary investigations revealed that the mother, who is a lecturer at the college, left the toddler in the car at the college’s parking lot for four hours.

“She only realized that her child was still in the car at around 1 p.m. When she rushed to the vehicle, the victim was already unconscious,” he said.

The mother then rushed her daughter to the Port Dickson health clinic but the victim was pronounced dead a short while later.

Supt Zainudin said a post mortem would be conducted on the child to establish the cause of death. No arrests have been made.

The case, he said, was being investigated under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act for child abuse.

Offenders can be jailed up to 10 years and fined not more than RM20,000 (P256,000) upon conviction.