Toddler dies after being left in hot car in Malaysia for entire day

Man returns to car in evening only to find daughter lying unconscious

Representational image of a baby (PA)

A 16-month-old toddler died in Malaysia after allegedly being left inside a car by her father at a public university for nearly the entire day.

Initial investigation revealed that on Tuesday the father forgot to drop off his daughter at the university's daycare centre when he arrived in the morning, The Star reported.

The man rushed to his vehicle at around 4.30pm (local time) only to find his child lying unconscious inside the hot car. He took the baby to the university's healthcare centre where she was pronounced dead by the staff.

“Police rushed to the scene as soon as we received the report and found that the baby had already died,” said Kuala Terengganu district police chief Abdul Rahim Md Din.

An autopsy was conducted at the Sultanah Nur Zahirah hospital on Tuesday night and the authorities were awaiting the report to ascertain the cause of the death, he added.

Police have opened an investigation under the country's Child Act 2001. A person could be jailed up to 10 years or fined up to RM20,000 (£3,455) or both if found guilty of ill-treating, neglecting, abandoning or exposing children in a manner that leads to physical and emotional injuries under this law.

It was the second such incident of a baby dying in a car due to their parents’ alleged neglect in less than a month.

An eight-month-old girl died after being left in a car by her mother for 10 hours in Kuala Lumpur earlier in October.

The child's mother had placed her daughter in the rear passenger seat of a car at 7.20am (local time) to take her to a nursery, according to the local police.

The mother, who is a doctor, went to work under the assumption that her daughter had already been dropped off at the nursery.

“She realised that her daughter was still in the car only when her husband called in the evening to say that their daughter had not been sent to the nursery,” Cheras district police chief Zam Halim Jamaluddin told The Straits Times.

“The victim died on the same day,” he said in a statement.