Three-year-old dies and younger sister in critical condition after being found in hot car

‘It’s just heartbreaking that these kids die in their own driveways,’ says KidsAndCars.org founder Janette Fennell

A three-year-old girl has died and her one-year-old sister is still in critical condition, after they were found unconscious in a hot car in Arkansas.

The mother of the children, Kaylee Petchenik, told police that she went for a nap on Monday afternoon, but could not find her daughters when she woke up.

She called the police and when they arrived at around 2pm, officers found her children lying unconscious on the back floorboard of her car that was parked outside her home in Booneville, Arkansas.

Ms Petchenik’s three year-old daughter was pronounced dead at the local hospital later that day, while her youngest child is currently in critical condition.

The Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division has opened an investigation into the incident, but confirmed that no arrests have been made as of yet.

The death is the 11th this year in the US related to a hot car, following two years of record breaking numbers, with 107 children dying, according to ABC News.

A majority of child car deaths happen without parents realising, and 56 per cent of cases occur when parents leave their children inside a vehicle unknowingly, according to KidsAndCars.org.

Only 14 per cent of incidents occur after a child is left knowingly in the car, while 26 per cent enter by themselves and get stuck.

Janette Fennell, the president and founder of the organisation, told ABC that the number of cases of children entering cars by themselves has increased by 55 per cent in 2020.

She thinks that the the increase in incidents might be down to the coronavirus pandemic, as more children are at home while schools are closed.

She added: “In many cases the kids end up on the floorboards, so when people look inside [the car] they don’t see them. It’s just heartbreaking that these kids die in their own driveways.”

The Hot Cars Act, that would require technology implemented into new vehicles to detect if a passenger is still in a car after the engine has been turned off, passed in Congress on 1 July and is awaiting a date to be voted on in the Senate.