Kid suffocated after being trapped for hours inside car under sweltering heat

24 March 2023 , 16:25

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Kittinan Kimkliang, 3, was found unconscious on the back seat of his mum's black Toyota (Image: ViralPress)

A toddler suffocated to death after he was trapped for two hours inside a car under the sweltering tropical heat.

Kittinan Kimkliang, 3, was found unconscious on the back seat of his mum's black Toyota pickup truck while it was parked in front of the family's restaurant in Buriram province, Thailand, on March 22.

Paramedics arrived at the scene at around 3pm and tried to revive Kittinan as the family cried in anguish. Medics rushed him to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead as he had lost too much oxygen.

Distraught mother Phitsamai Chantaboon, 33, said she had driven Kittinan and his older brother, 6, to school to receive free milk before returning home with them both in the back seat.

The car the young lad died in (ViralPress)

Believing both kids had left the car when they arrived home, she locked the car doors then went to work at the family's noodle stand just a few yards away.

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She said she did not see Kittinan, but assumed he had been playing with his brother and his friends in the neighbourhood.

However, she could not find him when she went to the neighbour's house two hours later.

The toddler suffocated in a car after being left there for two hours (ViralPress)

Panicked, she searched the area and eventually found the youngster unconscious still inside the pickup truck where she had left him.

Through tears, Phitsamai told reporters Kittinan was the middle child of her three children. She claimed she was sure he had climbed out of the car before she locked it, while unaware the boy was still inside.

She said she had also taught him to honk the car's horn if he was trapped, and was unsure why he did not do so.

He was pronounced dead at hospital (ViralPress)

Kittinan's grandmother, Lamoon Chantaboon, 64, said she had not been worried about the boy initially as Phitsamai had told her he was just biking outside.

Police Captain Anuprem Toomnanork of the Mueang Buriram Police Station said: 'There were still traces of the child's vomit on the car's mats. We also found his fingerprints on the windows. We believe he tried to get out of the vehicle.'

The officer said police will interview the mother and conduct further investigations to find how Kittinan was trapped in the car.

Last summer, another three-year-old child died after being left in a hot car while his dad went for a drink.

Sifeddin Malahaji, 34, was devastated when he found his son unresponsive after returning from drinking tea with his brother.

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He and his wife Hiba Alheraki, 28, had gone to the southern Turkish city of Adana for a family wedding when the awful incident occurred on August 15.

Ryan Fahey