Dwarakapudi (Andhra Pradesh):Four children died of suffocation after getting trapped inside a parked car in Vizianagaram district, police said on Monday.
The children, who were playing on the street outside a house, entered the parked vehicle at around noon on Sunday. “They were unable to exit as the doors of the unlocked car automatically got locked after they got inside,” a police official told PTI.
“We believe the car’s auto-lock system engaged once the kids got in, trapping them,” the police added, stating that the bodies were discovered over six hours later, after 6 pm on Sunday.
A woman passing by reportedly looked into the car’s mirror and noticed the children lying motionless inside, prompting her to raise an alarm.
According to police, the car had been parked on the outskirts of the village due to a lack of space near the owner’s house. The unattended vehicle caught the attention of the children playing nearby.
All four children found the car unlocked, opened the door, and climbed in. At the time, no one else was present on the street, police said.
One boy reportedly lost consciousness first and eventually died. The remaining three may have suffered panic due to the heat and lack of oxygen, leading to their deaths, police added.
A preliminary probe revealed that the car did not have a child lock. Police suspect the children accidentally triggered the central locking system, which sealed them inside.
The car’s owner, who had returned to the village after attending his brother’s wedding in Visakhapatnam, had parked the vehicle two days earlier in a narrow lane.
The vehicle has been seized and will be sent to the manufacturer for technical evaluation, police said.
A case has been registered under Section 304(A) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The children’s bodies were handed over to their families and later cremated.
Of the four children, two were siblings, while the others were from different families.