Baby and five-year-old are rescued from hot car in Canberra in 34C

Baby and five-year-old are rescued in the nick of time after being locked in a car in 34C heat – as police hunt the parent responsible

  • Temperatures hit 34C outside but could have been as high as 64C in the car
  • The person responsible had left the engine off and the window slightly ajar
  • The rescues come after two infants were found dead in a vehicle last month 

A baby wrapped in a blanket and a five-year-old were found locked inside a car on Canberra’s hottest December day in history.

A passer-by told police the children had been left in the car in Mawson, south of the capital, for up to 15 minutes at 11.30am on Saturday. 

Temperatures hit 34C outside at the time of the incident, but they could have been as high as 64C inside the car.

The engine was off and the window had been left slightly ajar.

A baby wrapped in a blanket and a five-year-old were found locked inside a car on the capital city’s hottest December day in history (stock image)

WHAT HAPPENS TO A CHILD IN A HOT CAR

Seven minutes: The child starts sweating and becomes uncomfortable.

Ten minutes: The child can have a seizure carrying the risk of serious injury and brain damage.

20 minutes: High risk of death.

The person responsible for the children went back to the car and left the area before police arrived.

An investigation is under way but police have urged the whoever placed the children’s lives at risk to turn themselves in. 

Saturday was Canberra’s hottest December day ever recorded reaching a top of 41C in the afternoon.

The incident come after a spate of fatal hot car incidents.

Dr Dilip Dhupelia, the president of the Australian Medical Association’s Queensland branch, previously told Daily Mail Australia: ‘It is never OK to leave a child in the car.’ 

‘Children’s bodies heat up three to five times faster than adults do, and the younger the child, the more vulnerable they are.

‘Winding down the windows or parking in the shade will do little.

‘Some people have this false sense of protection – “it’s only 10 minutes, I’ll leave the window open four or five centimetres”.

‘It doesn’t stop the temperature rising.’

The doctor said the mercury can rise so fast in 10 minutes in the car that heatstroke and seizures can occur.

The person responsible for the children went back to the car and left the area before police arrived (stock image)

The person responsible for the children went back to the car and left the area before police arrived (stock image)

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk