A four-year-old boy has died after reportedly falling asleep inside his family’s car during soaring temperatures in Turkey. Muhammed Aras Temel suffered a seizure after he was found inside the vehicle in the rural Ekinciler neighbourhood of the Mazıdağı district on Sunday.
The youngster is understood to have been inside the car for some time before he was found seriously unwell, Turkish outlet Hurriyet reported. He was first taken to Mazıdağı State Hospital, where doctors determined he had suffered a seizure, before being transferred to Mardin Training and Research Hospital. Despite the efforts of medics, Muhammed died.
An autopsy will now be carried out as authorities investigate the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
Turkey has endured sweltering weather this summer, with temperatures climbing to around 40C in Mardin over the weekend.
Last month, temperatures reached 46.1C in Antalya – the highest July temperature recorded since records began in 1930. The country has also battled a series of devastating wildfires during the hot weather.
Muhammed’s death is the latest in a number of tragedies involving children during periods of extreme heat in Europe and the United States this summer.
In June, four-year-old Kassim Benouali and his two-year-old brother Sadek were found unresponsive in the back of a car parked outside their grandmother’s home in Carpentras, southern France.
Paying tribute to the boys, their grandmother, Fatiha, described the family’s heartbreak and revealed their mother had spent the morning trying to keep them cool before temperatures soared.
She said: “It’s a tragedy. It was really, really hot on Monday. It was a terrible heatwave. So, my daughter Wafa took the boys to the swimming pool in the morning and then did some shopping. She then drove home with the boys who were in the car. May Allah have mercy on their souls.”