An 18-month-old girl died after allegedly being left inside a nursery minibus for approximately seven hours in Almada, Portugal, on Thursday. Emergency medical responders were unable to revive the child, identified only by her first name, Sofia.
The toddler's grandmother told a local newspaper that Sofia was handed over to a nursery worker around 8 a.m. to be taken to daycare. The alarm was raised when the child's mother arrived to pick her up from the nursery in the afternoon and discovered she was not there. Paramedics and police were alerted shortly before 4 p.m.
The local temperature at the time reached about 27C (81F). The minibus was reportedly parked in front of a different daycare facility than the one Sofia attended. The creche associated with the vehicle has been identified locally as Colegio Mestre Cuco.
The Policia Judiciaria police force has launched an investigation into the incident. No arrests have been reported.
This incident follows similar tragedies in Europe. In September 2023, a 10-month-old baby girl named Madalena died after being left in a car on a university campus in Almada for several hours in 26C heat. In May of the previous year, a three-year-old boy died after being found trapped in a parked car in Linares, Spain, during temperatures of 27C (81F).