Brazilian infants paying with their lives for irresponsible adults

Just this week alone three Brazilian children, all 2 years of age, have died; victims of being left locked inside cars by forgetful and irresponsible adults. This sad scene repeats every year here in Brazil with alarming regularity and Brazilians, sadly, seem simply incapable of learning from the dozens of news reports of such deaths each year.

Summer has not even officially begun, and already last week a 2 year old boy in Rio died when he was left locked in an "clandestine" school transport van by the female owner. This case is under close police investigation since there were a number of inconsistencies in her statements to police, she used another woman to impersonate the child's mother when he was taken to the emergency hospital, and by all accounts she was having a manicure while the child baked in the hot van.

Today there were two more, a two year old girl in the Pampulha region of Belo Horizonte, left in the car by her mother and a two year old girl who was left all day in his father's hot car in ABC Paulista he only discovered his lifeless child when he returned to the daycare center at 6:00 PM only to be told that he hadn't brought the child that morning. I shudder to think just what the death toll is going to be like this year.

People PLEASE if you see a child unattended in a car and the windows are closed, phone 190 immediately and report the situation, then try and open the door and remove the child. If the car is locked then break a window (away from the child) and remove the child from the car. The law protects you from any kind of prosecution if you've called police first. Leaving a small child unattended for any length of time, regardless of where or when, is a crime - "Abandono de Incapaz". You can help save lives, so don't hesitate should your action be necessary.

Same goes for pets too, call police at 190 and advise them of the situation. Follow the officer on the phone's advice as to what action to take in this situation. Don't break a window unless told to do so, or unless the animal appears to be in extreme difficulty.

Cheers,
James        Expat-blog Experts Team