A five-year-old boy has died after being left in a hot car outside an elementary school in temperatures that would have felt more than 40C including humidity.
Emergency services rushed to Dr Americo Paredes Elementary, in south Texas, said La Joya Independent School District Police Chief Raul Gonzalez, where they found the boy unresponsive on Thursday afternoon.
Attempts were made to revive the boy using CPR by staff at the school and medics but they were unsuccessful.
The young boy was found in the car of a relative who is a staff member at the school.
"The child was taken to the nurses office at the campus where they attempted CPR procedures, local medical personnel also arrived to assist but their efforts to resuscitate the child were unsuccessful," said Chief Gonzalez.
Extreme temperatures have hit Texas this month and it is likely to have felt more than 40C inside the car last Thursday in Hidalgo County, taking into account the humidity.
The boy is the 19th child that has died as a result of being left in hot cars in the United States so far this year, according to KidsAndCars.org - while more than 1,000 have died since 1990.
"It is with great sadness to inform our community of the isolated incident on the passing of one of our students," said La Joya ISD Superintendent Gisela Saenz at a press conference.
"I ask the community to keep the family, our students and our staff at Americo Paredes Elementary in their thoughts and their prayers as they navigate through this tragic event."
Chief Gonzalez told the press conference that "no further details" were available at present, with the boy unnamed, and the police investigation was continuing.
It comes after a three-year-old boy was left outside a school for several hours in temperatures over 35C last month.
Emergency services rushed to Lubavitch Educational Center in Miami Gardens, in Florida, after Shalom Tauber’s parents found him unconscious in the car at around 3.47pm local time on July 12.
The boy’s parents both work at the school, on Northwest 173rd Street, and the father Menachem Mendel Tauber, 42, claimed that he had forgotten the three-year-old was in the car, said Miami Gardens Police.
Detective Diana Delgado-Gourgue said that a report had been made “in reference to an unresponsive juvenile, inside of a vehicle.”
She continued: “Miami-Dade Fire Rescue transported the victim to a local hospital, where the juvenile was pronounced deceased by doctors.”
