An 18-month-old girl died after she was allegedly left inside a school transport vehicle for several hours during a hot summer day in Portugal.
The child, identified only as Sofia, was found in critical condition at around 4 p.m. local time on Thursday, July 23, inside a minibus in Almada, a city along the Tagus River near Lisbon, according to the U.K.’s Metro and Portuguese outlet Jornal de Notícias.
Emergency crews desperately tried to revive the toddler, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Temperatures in Almada were reportedly around 81 degrees Fahrenheit at the time.
Sofia had been picked up from her home at approximately 8 a.m. by an employee of the Mestre Cuco school, where she was enrolled. She was supposed to be taken to daycare in a Peugeot 5008 used to transport children.
However, Sofia’s parents did not receive the usual confirmation that she had arrived at daycare. According to reports, the school had followed that check-in protocol for about a year.
Her mother became alarmed when she arrived to pick Sofia up later that afternoon and discovered that her daughter was not at the daycare.
The vehicle was eventually located parked outside a different facility from the one Sofia attended.
The school said it was devastated by the child’s death and was cooperating with authorities.
“It is with deep consternation and immense pain that the Management of Colégio O Mestre Cuco was confronted this afternoon with the tragic event that claimed one of our children,” the school said in a Facebook statement.
“In this moment of indescribable suffering, we want to express our deepest condolences to the parents and the family as well as to all those who were close to them,” the statement continued.
The school added that it was treating the case with “the utmost seriousness and sense of responsibility” and assisting authorities with a full investigation.
In a second statement posted Friday, July 24, the school confirmed that the vehicle involved belonged to Mestre Cuco and was properly licensed to transport children.
The employee who picked Sofia up regularly drove children to the school and reportedly had no previous incidents with police.
Portugal’s Judicial Police has launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the toddler’s death.
Authorities have not publicly explained how Sofia was overlooked or whether anyone has been charged.
