Overview
- Two siblings aged two and four were found unresponsive in a family car at their grandmother’s home on Monday in Carpentras and a post-mortem has concluded they died of dehydration.
- A manslaughter inquiry into the Carpentras case is open and prosecutors say further forensic analyses are under way to test the hypothesis of death from excessive heat.
- Separate incidents this week include a three‑year‑old found in cardiac arrest inside a parked car in Saint‑Gratien who later died and reports of an 18‑month‑old found unconscious at the Aix‑Marseille medical campus, both of which are under investigation or awaiting formal post-mortems.
- Meteo France issued red heat alerts and temperatures topped 40–44°C in parts of the country, a pattern experts say makes parked cars life‑threatening because interior temperatures climb far above outside heat.
- Local officials, hospitals and universities have urged carers to exercise extra vigilance and investigators warn that pending forensic results will be central to any criminal charges and to lessons for preventing future tragedies.