DEATH INSIDE ABANDONED VEHICLES
Disused vehicles which constitute danger should be impounded
Last week, the bodies of three siblings and two others were retrieved from inside an abandoned vehicle in Agyaragu, a quiet farming community on the outskirts of Lafia, Nasarawa State capital. Aged between six and 10 years, the children were discovered locked inside a disused vehicle parked in a residential compound in their neighbourhood. They were promptly evacuated to Aro Hospital, Agyaragu, where they were all confirmed dead – due to suspected suffocation. Sadly, this is a recurring tragedy in Nasarawa State. According to the state police command, a similar incident occurred in August 2019 when two children lost their lives in an abandoned vehicle in Keffi. Six years earlier in Sabon Pegi, Lafia, two children of a chief imam also died after locking themselves in their father’s car.
Over the years, the country has become a graveyard of hundreds of thousands of unserviceable and abandoned vehicles which
constitute danger to children. Indeed, death of children in parked vehicles is increasingly becoming alarming, raising clear issues of care and negligence. Although there are no available data, it is common knowledge that a lot of children die from heat stress because they have been left in closed automobiles. Ironically, this potential danger is receiving far less attention than it deserves. In December 2021, Magbon community in Badagry was thrown into confusion following the discovery of the lifeless bodies of eight children aged between four and nine inside a parked Honda Pilot car. Spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command had explained that the children mistakenly locked themselves in the car while playing. Parents whose seven children were among the eight, simply submitted to the fatalistic attitude of the “will of God.”
No less devastating was the death of three siblings, two boys and a girl, inside an abandoned vehicle in their parent’s compound in Nise, Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State. The incident occurred last January while their parents were away for the day’s activities. The father returned home in the evening and, after searching for over an hour, discovered the children unresponsive inside the car. Efforts to revive them failed. The grieving parents, who reportedly waited years before being blessed with the children, soon relocated from the community.
Like others, it is suspected that the children died out of suffocation from excessive heat. Some studies have shown that the leading cause of death for children left unattended in motor vehicles is stroke after a dangerously overheated body in response to a prolonged hot, humid weather. It is said that the thermoregulation of young children compared to that of adults shows that their sweating and skin temperature responses are not enough to prevent a rise in body temperature. Perhaps such was the fate that befell two children of a widow whose decomposing bodies were found in an abandoned vehicle in Abraka, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State. The stench of the corpses drew the attention of passersby, leading to a search and the shocking discovery. The corpses of the children aged 9 and 10 were recovered from an abandoned Honda Rover car said to have been parked for about five years.
The devastation of parents due to this tragedy must be addressed. Cases of disused cars should be reported to the authorities with the possibility of impounding them before they become playgrounds for innocent children. But parents and guardians must also do more to protect their children. They must leave them in the care of responsible adults and ensure vehicles and other dangerous spaces are secured to prevent similar incidents. The Child Rights Act emphasises the importance of family care and parental responsibility.
