Baby boy dies after being left unattended in 34 degree heat in Chester Hill

Police are investigating whether a 22-month-old boy may have accidentally been left in a hot car by a family member before he was found dead in Sydney’s south west on Sunday. The boy, a twin, was left in the vehicle for several hours in the sweltering 34C heat before the alarm was raised.

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Police are investigating whether a 22-month-old may have accidentally been left in a hot car by a family member before he was found dead in Sydney’s south west yesterday.

The boy, a twin, was left in the vehicle for several hours in the sweltering 34C heat before the alarm was raised.

Temperatures in a hot car in summer can reach 65C.

Emergency services were called to the home in Chester Hill, near Bankstown, at 3.30pm after panicked relatives found the child in the car unresponsive and not breathing.

A woman is loaded into an ambulance at the Chester Hill home. Picture: TNV

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The family member carried the boy into the house and called NSW Ambulance officers who attempted to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

A woman, thought to be his mother, was seen arriving in a taxi, screaming “my baby” when she was told what happened.

The taxi driver reportedly said the woman, a mother of six, had left her baby in someone else’s care before she left the house on O’Hagan St.

A distraught woman talks to police. Picture: TNV

Distraught friends were seen arriving at the scene later in the evening to offer support to family members.

Detectives were seen inspecting a silver car parked out the front of the house at 7pm. Bankstown Police have launched a full investigation into the tragic incident.

A close friend told The Daily Telegraph the “devoted” mother adored her twin boys and four other young children.

“She’s a good mother, she loves her kids, she’d do anything for them — this is devastating. She’s a mother of six kids. I saw them last Friday, I’m in shock,” neighbour Sharon Dunn said.

“The boy is gorgeous, always jumping around. They’re a very close family. The two twins were always together.

“I’m in disbelief. I just can’t believe this has happened.”

A distraught woman outside the Chester Hill home. Picture: TNV

A distraught woman outside the home. Picture: TNV

The child’s grandmother was seen being carried out of the house on stretcher into an ambulance about 5pm. Witnesses said the woman was being treated for shock.

It is believed the mother and grandmother raised the children together at the home.

A NSW police spokeswoman said: “The child had been left unattended, we’re still looking into the circumstances surrounding his death.”

One veteran firefighter said that car temperatures could soar to a staggering 65C in just 20 minutes.

“Temperatures could easily double, given you’ve got glass that magnifies the heat. If it’s hit by direct sunlight, that car could early be 60 to 65 degrees,” he said.