3 Palestinian toddlers die after becoming trapped in abandoned car
Two of the children, aged 2 and 3, were sisters; initial investigation finds they were playing in vehicle outside car paint shop near East Jerusalem and were unable get out
Three Palestinian children died Thursday after they became trapped in an abandoned car in the town of al-Azariya, just outside East Jerusalem, medics said.
Yusef Zidan Abiyat, 3, and sisters Ranim Mahmoud Abu Ghalia, 3, and Rahaf Mahmoud Abu Ghalia, 2, were found unconscious by a passerby. They were taken to a clinic in the West Bank town of Abu Dis where doctors declared them dead.
An initial investigation by Palestinian police found that the children, playing near the family home, apparently entered the vehicle, which was near a garage that does paintwork for cars. The door closed and the children were unable to open it. Afternoon temperatures rose to 28° C (82.4° F).
A family member told the Hebrew-language Ynet website that the family thought the children were playing indoors at the time.
The garage owner was taken away for questioning by Palestinian police.
A month ago a two-year-old boy died after being left alone in a car in the northern town of Rechasim, near Haifa. The boy was found after five hours. Medical teams were called to the site and attempted to resuscitate the toddler but were forced to pronounce him dead at the scene.
Two weeks before that, four-year-old Muhammad Shoala from the village of Arara died after being left in his father’s car in Umm al-Fahm, also near Haifa. His family noticed he was missing and searched for him all day before discovering him in the car at his father’s workplace.
