A toddler from New Jersey has died after being left in the family’s car for hours in 90-degree temperatures.
At about 2:00PM on Tuesday (August 30), the two-year-old girl was left in the car in her family's own driveway in Franklin Township in New Jersey, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office said in a release.
According to the release, authorities responded to a call of a child in cardiac arrest at a home on Summerall Road. Upon arrival, a neighbor - who is a member of a local fire department - was giving CPR on the unresponsive child.
After officers and the responding medical team attempted to save the child, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Watch NBC News' coverage below:The prosecutor’s office said it isn't clear how long the girl had been in the car, nor is it clear whether she was in a car seat, NBC New York reported.
According to the National Weather Service, the temperature at the nearby Somerset Airport in the afternoon, just before the deceased girl was found, was 90 degrees.
Neighbors told the outlet that the young girl's parents didn’t know she was in the car. One person revealed that after officers knocked on the home’s front door, they heard screams of pain from the parents after they learned.
"They were just screaming in pain and anguish. She collapsed to the ground and he went to console her," said a neighbor. "They’re great parents. I’ve seen them be very loving and doting on their daughters."
Another neighbor, Treana Huntley, told ABC News: "It was gut-wrenching. It almost made me want to break into tears, as a mother. Just hearing that pain from another mother, it was very hurtful to hear. I wouldn't wish that on anybody."
Additional details about the death weren't immediately available and nobody has been charged with a crime in connection with the child's death.
"Further investigation is ongoing to determine the exact length of time the child was in the vehicle, and the circumstances surrounding the events leading to this incident," prosecutors said in their statement.
The New York Post reports that the toddler's death is listed as the 22nd hot-car death so far this year, according to a heartbreaking count kept by the organization Kids and Car Safety.
According to Noheatstroke.org - a website run by a San Jose State University meteorologist that tracks hot car deaths - nearly 1,000 children have died of fatal vehicular pediatric heatstroke since 1998.
"This is the kind of tragedy that doesn’t discriminate. It has to do with a failure of the brain’s memory, in many cases," the organization's Sue Auriemma told NBC New York.
"Unfortunately the worst mistake a parent can make is thinking this can’t happen to them," she said, adding that she is pushing to make warning systems compulsory in all new cars.
Advocates like those at Kids and Car Safety also advise parents to ensure their vehicles are locked at all times so that their children cannot accidentally lock themselves inside. Another key habit is checking the backseat every time you exit the vehicle.
Experts suggest leaving a key item such as a wallet or set of keys on the backseat so that you're forced to double-check the area whenever you get out of your vehicle.
Our thoughts go out to anybody affected by this horrible tragedy.
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