A 7-year-old boy suffocated and passed away after getting locked in a car in Visakhapatnam on Monday. The tragic incident took place at the Amzari Park Naval Officers Quarters on Monday afternoon.
The child, Bangaru Prem Kumar, was the son of Bangaru Vinod Kumar, who was employed as a domestic worker at the house of a naval officer. Prem Kumar’s family was residing in the same naval quarters above the naval officer’s house. According to the Malkapuram Circle Inspector, the child entered the car, which was not locked, wanting to play with some toys that he saw inside the vehicle. The car doors then locked automatically and with the windows being rolled up, the child was unable to breathe and lost his life. Prem Kumar was studying in Class 1.
On finding the child missing around lunch time, the boy’s family as well as the naval officer’s family began to look for him, only to find him lying unconscious inside the car.
“The boy must have entered the car around 1 pm. Around 3 pm, the naval officer’s wife found the parking lights of the car on and went to look inside the car. That’s when the boy was found. No one had been around the car in those few hours, so no one could see or hear the child and rescue him,” the Malkapuram CI told TNM.
The car was reportedly left unlocked by the boy’s father while he was cleaning it. Failing to notice that his son had entered the car to play, Vinod Kumar shut the car doors, which were on auto lock.
The family took the child to the hospital immediately, but it was already too late. The police have registered a case under Section 174 of the CrPC (death under suspicious circumstances) and are investigating further.