A 2-month-old baby girl was saved Thursday after being accidentally left in her family car in Ashdod.
The infant avoided harm thanks to alert passersby, who noticed an unattended baby in the vehicle and contacted police. Police broke the car windows and took the baby out.
The child is in good condition.
The parents were detained for questioning. They told police they had been distracted and had simply forgotten the child. They hurried back to the car as soon as they realized their mistake.
Researchers have found that in most cases in which children die of hyperthermia (overheating) in a vehicle, the child was unintentionally forgotten. Children are particularly at risk when there is a change in routine, which can lead to parents forgetting there is a child in the car as they go about their day.
Abandoned or unlocked cars are also a risk, as older children can enter them and become trapped inside. The temperature of a closed car can shoot up within minutes, causing fatalities even on relatively mild days.
Multiple children died in hot cars in Israel this summer, including two babies who died within a day of each other. An eight-month-old baby and 14-month-old twins were rescued in two separate incidents when passersby intervened.