20-month-old baby dies of heatstroke in Fuerteventura

A 20-month-old baby died this weekend after suffering heatstroke in Fuerteventura, an island that was under a yellow weather warning for high temperatures. The story was first reported by local outlet Noticias Fuerteventura and confirmed to EFE by sources from the Consejería de Sanidad of the Gobierno de Canarias.

According to those sources, the incident occurred over the weekend and, given the severity of the child's condition, he was transferred by air ambulance helicopter from the Hospital General de Fuerteventura to the Hospital Universitario Materno Infantil de Canarias in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a specialist paediatric centre. The doctors who treated the baby were unable to save him, and he ultimately died at the hospital complex in the Grancanarian capital.

According to Consejería sources cited by Canarias7, the child suffered the episode while inside a car. Those same sources describe it as the first death from this cause reported in the Canary Islands this summer.

Circumstances of the incident

There are some discrepancies in the details reported by different outlets. eldiario.es and the Diario de Fuerteventura, drawing on EFE reports, note that "local media report that the baby had been left inside a vehicle due to a moment of distraction by his parent," without providing further detail.

La Provincia places the incident in the village of Tetir, in the municipality of Puerto del Rosario, and reports that the child's father, "in a moment of distraction, had forgotten" the boy and left him alone in the vehicle for an unknown period of time. According to that account, the father returned to the car after realising the child was missing and found him in a serious condition.

There are also differences between published reports regarding the time of death. La Provincia places it in the early hours between Saturday and Sunday; Canarias7 states that the child died in the early hours of Sunday after suffering heatstroke on Saturday. The outlet moncloa.com reports that the death occurred in the early hours between Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 August.

As of now, according to eldia.es, no further details have emerged about the exact circumstances or how long the child was exposed to the high temperatures. Canarias7 also noted, among its most-read stories, that an investigation is under way into possible manslaughter by negligence, though official sources have not provided any additional information on the matter.

An extreme heat episode

The death occurred during a period of extreme temperatures across the archipelago. The entire Canary Islands were under weather warnings of varying levels for high temperatures. Fuerteventura had been under a yellow alert since the previous Friday, while the summits and the southern, eastern and western slopes of Gran Canaria were on red alert, with maximum temperatures exceeding 40 degrees.

The Gobierno de Canarias placed Gran Canaria on maximum alert for high temperatures and wildfire risk from 11.00 on Monday 3 August, with particular focus on the Tejeda basin and the mid-altitude areas of the southeast and west. In the municipality of Puerto del Rosario, according to La Provincia, temperatures hovered around 30.9 degrees on the day of the incident.

According to the Sistema de Monitorización de la Mortalidad Diaria (MoMo), managed by the Centro Nacional de Epidemiología of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, deaths attributable to high temperatures in the Canary Islands this year had reached twelve, according to Canarias7.

Heat safety advice

Health authorities remind the public that infants and children under four years of age, pregnant women and people over 65 are the most vulnerable groups during heat episodes. In the case of young children, their bodies regulate heat less effectively and they can become dehydrated rapidly.

It is recommended to keep them in cool environments, offer them fluids frequently and avoid prolonged exposure to the sun, especially during the hottest hours of the day. In the event of serious symptoms, immediate medical assistance should be sought by calling 112. Authorities stress that a child should never be left inside a closed vehicle, as the interior temperature can rise rapidly.