Families have been left to mourn as 8 children were found dead on Saturday, December 4, inside a parked Honda Sport Utility Vehicle at 18 Adelayo street, Jah Michael bus stop, along Badagry Expressway, Lagos State.
It was gathered that the children who were between the ages of 4 and 6 were said to have been playing inside the parked car and mistakenly locked the door, efforts to unlock the car proved abortive.
The victims were identified as Mamod, Aisha, Zainab, Farida, Yakubu, Tayab, Wahab, and one other.
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Spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu, who confirmed the incident said that the children’s bodies have been recovered and deposited at the Badagry General Hospital’s morgue for autopsy to determine the cause of death.
“The eight children were said to have mistakenly locked themselves in an abandoned car while playing. Their bodies have been recovered and deposited at the Badagry General Hospital’s morgue for an autopsy so as to determine the actual cause of death,” the PPRO stated.
“Notwithstanding the report made to the Police, the Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, has ordered a thorough and speedy investigation into the circumstances surrounding their death. The CP also commiserates with the families of the victims,” he added.
A consultant family physician at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Dr. Oluwajimi Sodipo, however, stated that it takes about six to eight hours for the children to have died from asphyxiation or excessive heat.
He further added that an autopsy, including a toxicology test, should be conducted on the victims to ascertain the main cause of their death.
“There are many determinants to the loss of oxygen in the vehicle. The number of children in the vehicle; because apart from the oxygen that will come in, the longer they stay inside the vehicle, they will also be providing carbon dioxide, which will be building up over time. So, the more people they are, the more that will build up, and of course, it could cause that. He said,
“Another factor is that it is also dependent on what time the incident happened. One assumption is that they might have died from asphyxiation; another possibility is that if there is a lot of heat as the weather is hot right now and we don’t know what time the incident occurred if they were trapped in the vehicle for a long time, there is a possibility of complications from excessive heat.
“Like heatstroke, dehydration, and all that can occur. But on a rough estimate, I will assume that at least it will take more than six to eight hours for all of them to have died within the vehicle, but that is also dependent on a number of factors.”
Sodipo urged parents and guardians to keep a close eye on their children and also advised that the child protection services in the country be strengthened.
