Hot car death an ‘unfortunate incident’- Premier Smith
And according to Premier Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith (AL), he does not wish for another such death to occur in the VI and his Government will be examining ways on how this can be prevented.
Speaking at a Press Conference at Office of the Premier on May 2, 2018, Premier Smith used the opportunity to express condolences to the parents and relatives over what he called an “unfortunate incident.”
“We have to look and see how we can assist in this area because there may be things, such as having some sort of alert signals, put in place by parents to be able to remind them about the fact that their child is left in the vehicle, unintentionally of course..." Premier Smith told reporters.
Reports reaching our newsroom are that the father of Zaria was supposed to take her to a daycare in Road Town on the morning of that ill-fated day but apparently forgot and instead proceeded to his place of work where he parked his car, leaving the child in the vehicle for an entire work day.
The infant was discovered dead sometime in the afternoon.
“There are many things that could be put in place,” Premier Smith noted, adding that he already had a discussion with his Ministers about things which are possible “and we are sure we will put our heads together some more and maybe come up with some advice, and working with the members of the public service who may also have ideas that may be useful.”
Hot car deaths
While statistics are not readily available for worldwide occurrences, hot car deaths involving children average around 37 per year in the United States of America, according to AccuWeather on April 16, 2018.
By July 31, 2017 a record high 29 children across the United States had died of heatstroke when left in hot cars.
49 deaths were recorded in 2016 according to CNN.
How heat kills children
The central nervous system is not fully developed in children, and this makes their bodies less able to cope with temperature changes, according to the Mayo Clinic. Children have difficulty remaining hydrated for this same reason. And a child's core body temperature can rise five times more quickly than that of an adult.
When body temperature rises, heatstroke may occur. Also referred to as hyperthermia and heat illness, it can cause alterations in consciousness and lead to permanent brain, heart and kidney damage. In a worst-case scenario, heatstroke places a person -- child or adult -- at risk of death.
According to CNN, sometimes it only takes two minutes for the temperature in locked cars to rise dramatically.
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9 Responses to “Hot car death an ‘unfortunate incident’- Premier Smith”
However, Hurricane Irma killed several persons here and many persons throughout the Caribbean. A life is a life!
Call to make sure the child/children reaches the day care
Parents/Guardians follow-up call during the course of the day to see how child/children are doing
Always check the back of car before closing and locking the doors.
Daycare owners/workers, if a child does not show up by designated time, contact parents/guardians that's why contact numbers are left on file.,