Overview
- The boys, aged four and two, were discovered unresponsive in a parked car outside their grandmother’s home and could not be resuscitated, with reports saying they were found on Monday.
- A preliminary postmortem ruled the cause of death as dehydration from exposure to excessive heat and investigators say the vehicle interior may have reached temperatures reported as high as 70°C without air conditioning.
- Prosecutors have opened an unintentional manslaughter investigation and say the children’s mother gave differing accounts to police about how the boys came to be in the car.
- The family has held funerals and relatives describe the mother as under severe emotional strain; she was treated for shock and faces ongoing legal scrutiny as investigators continue to gather evidence.
- The deaths come during an unprecedented European heatwave that pushed national highs in France and produced hundreds of excess deaths, a pattern that highlights how quickly closed vehicles can become lethal and could trigger new public-health warnings and safety measures.