A 2-year-old girl died of heatstroke after being left inside her father’s car for several hours in Brión, Galicia, Spain on May 20 [1, 2, 3, 4]. The father dropped off his older child at school that morning and planned to take the toddler to nursery but got distracted by a phone call and drove to work instead, leaving the girl in the car [1, 5, 2, 3, 4].
The mother arrived at the nursery around 3 p.m. and was told the girl had not been dropped off. She alerted emergency services and police, who found the child unresponsive inside the vehicle [1, 2, 3, 4]. The toddler was taken to a nearby health center in Bertamiráns but was pronounced dead from heatstroke, cardiac arrest, severe dehydration, and heat exhaustion [1, 5, 2, 3, 4].
On that day, Spain experienced unseasonably high temperatures, with some areas reaching 36 to 38°C (97 to 100°F) [1, 3, 4]. One source reported an ambient temperature closer to 25°C (77°F), but experts noted the temperature inside a closed car rises rapidly and children heat up 3 to 5 times faster than adults [5, 2, 3].
The local Brión town council declared two days of official mourning and held a minute of silence in memory of the girl. They offered their "deepest condolences and all our support to the family" and made municipal resources available to them [1, 3, 4].
Police continue to investigate the incident, and the family is receiving psychological support [1, 4]. This tragedy comes amid a rising number of heat-related incidents in Spain and abroad, including a similar recent death of a 1-year-old boy left in a hot car in the U.S. [3].
