Boy, 3, dies in Spain after being left in car for hours in 27C heat

The incident occurred in the municipality of O Porrino near the city of Pontevedra.

A three-year-old boy died after his mum “forgot” he was in the back of her car and left him unattended for several hours in 27C heat to go to work.

The youngster is said to have been left alone in the vehicle for six hours before anyone realised.

The tragedy occurred on Thursday in the municipality of O Porrino near the city of Pontevedra in Spain’s north-west Galician region.

The town hall announced overnight it was declaring three days of mourning and held a minute’s silence at midday on Friday. 

A local festival was also suspended following the tragic news.

Local reports said the mother had “forgotten” to leave the youngster at his nursery school before going to work.

She is said to have parked her car by her workplace at about 10am on Thursday and left her son asleep in a child seat in the back of the vehicle.

The alarm was raised at around 4pm, with local reports saying the child’s father had called after going to the nursery school and discovering the boy was not there.

Emergency responders rushed to the scene but were unable to do anything to save his life and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy will now take place to determine exactly when he died.

Civil Guard officers in Pontevedra could not be reached for comment on the case.

The child’s mother is understood to be receiving expert counselling.

O Porrino Town Hall said in a statement before the minute’s silence was held: “Today at 12 noon a minute’s silence will be observed in the town hall square.

“Festivities scheduled for this weekend have been suspended out of respect.

“The flags on the town hall will fly at half mast and the full council session due to be held today has been called off.

“Mayor Alejandro Lorenzo expresses his most sincere condolences in his name and that of the entire council and offers the youngster’s family all the support they need at this difficult time.”