A three-year-old girl has died after she was apparently forgotten on the nursery school bus in left in the boiling hot sun for five hours.
Local firefighters believe that China Kawamoto died of heatstroke in the tragic incident that took place in Makinohara, a Japanese city in Shizuoka prefecture, southwest of the capital Tokyo, on Monday, September 5th.
The nursery school bus reportedly arrived at the school at about 8:50am that morning, staff found China unresponsive on the same bus at about 2:10pm.
The young girl reportedly had a high body temperature when she was found inside the bus and when she was taken to hospital.
The temperature peaked at 30.5 degrees Celsius in Makinohara on Monday, at around 1pm, according to Japanese media.
Police are investigating and may reportedly open a case for negligence.
The news echoes a similarly tragic event in which a five-year-old boy died after being left in a hot ca r outside an elementary school in temperatures that would have felt more than 40C last week.
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
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.
Meanwhile in an even more horrifying case, a man confessed to killing his one-year-old son by intentionally leaving him in a blazing hot car for over five hours.
Landon Parrott, 19, first claimed he had only left 14-month-old Kyler in the car during a short trip to the bathroom.
But when confronted with footage of him abandoning the baby at 8:30am and only returning at 1:50pm the dad from New Philadelphia, USA, confessed to killing the youngster, it was reported on Sunday (September 4).
