A 14-month-old baby was found dead on Wednesday afternoon, forgotten in a car, in the parking lot of a company in Bordes (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), the Pau prosecutor’s office announced on Thursday.
The father of the child, an employee of the aeronautical company Safran, would have forgotten to drop off his baby at the nursery in the morning, before going to work. “Initial investigations suggest that the young child died of suffocation and dehydration”said the public prosecutor of Pau, Cécile Gensac, in a press release.
The mother, noting the absence of her child on Wednesday at the end of the day at the crèche in Assat, a peripheral town of Pau and not far from the father’s workplace, had given the alert.
Resuscitation attempts by firefighters and a Samu team, immediately transported to the scene, around 5:00 p.m., proved futile. “No one had heard the slightest noise, the car park being extensive”said the prosecutor of Pau.
A flagrant investigation for manslaughter was opened and entrusted to the Pau-Lescar research brigade.
The baby’s parents, “without criminal record and parents of an older child”were transferred in a state of shock to the Pau hospital center. “No audition could be carried out as it stands”says Cécile Gensac.
An autopsy is scheduled for Friday to determine the exact cause of death.
A psychological help unit has also been set up for the staff of the Assat crèche, which employs 26 people and welcomes around 80 children.
The establishment was closed on Thursday and will be closed again on Friday, said the mayor of the town, Jean-Christophe Rhaut. The other children were redirected to intermunicipal structures in the area, “and psychological cells have also been opened there for parents”specifies the mayor of Assat.