Boy, 3, dies after being left in hot day care van in United States

A FLORIDA day care centre has been temporarily shut down by the state after the body of a three-year-old boy was found in one of their vans.

Three-year-old Miles Hill died in the hot van.

A FLORIDA day care van driver will face criminal charges after a child was found dead inside the vehicle at the end of a sweltering summer day, law enforcement said.

Orlando Police Chief John Mina said 3-year-old Myles Hill spent all day in the van outside the Little Miracles Academy before he was discovered Monday night (local time).

An Orlando Police chaplain car is parked in front of the day care centre in Orlando. Krista Torralva/Orlando Sentinel via AP.

The boy’s family had called Orlando Police after noticing he hadn’t returned home from the daycare more than two hours after he was expected home.

“Myles was supposed to have been dropped off in the morning at another Little Miracles Academy day care centre but instead the boy was taken to the location where he was found on the floor of the vehicle more than 11 hours later. It was too early to say why Myles was taken to the wrong location, but the driver did admit to not doing a headcount,” Mina said.

No one answered the phone at the day care. Another number for the day care’s president found in state Division of Corporation records was disconnected.

The boy’s aunt, Barbara Livingston, said that when she asked daycare workers where her nephew was, they said he was “gone”.

“[We] said, ‘Gone where?’ And she pointed at the van,” Livingston told News 6. “I’m numb. I don’t know how to feel.”

Flowers and balloons are being left outside at a makeshift memorial in front of the day care centre. AP Photo/John Raoux.

The incident came just weeks after the school was cited for not keeping track of children during transport.

Florida Department of Children and Families records show the Little Miracles Academy was found not in compliance last month with a rule requiring day care centres to maintain logs of the time children arrive, where they were supposed to be transported and what time they departed.

Detectives were awaiting autopsy results, but believe they will show the death was caused by the heat. Temperatures reached a high of 34C in Orlando on Monday. Temperatures inside a vehicle under the summer sun can rise much higher.

“This is an absolute tragedy that could have been prevented,” Mina said at a news conference.

Mina said Myles’ death was the fifth fatality in Florida this year involving a child left in a hot vehicle. He pleaded with parents and caregivers to put their mobile phones, wallets or purses in the back seat with their children so they are reminded to look back there when they leave their vehicles.

“Every time we hear about this ... it hurts us all,” Mina said.

Mina wouldn’t say what charges the day care worker could face but says the worker has been co-operative.