Girl, 18 Months, Dies After Being Left in Car in Bertem
An 18-month-old girl has died after one of her parents forgot her in a parked car for an entire day in Bertem, a municipality in Belgium’s Flemish Brabant province near Leuven. The Leuven prosecutor’s office confirmed the death to VRT NWS, which reported that the child was only discovered in the evening and could not be saved despite being rushed to hospital.
What Happened
According to the prosecutor’s office, one of the parents had been due to take the girl to daycare in the morning but forgot that the child was still in the car. The girl remained in the vehicle throughout the day. The car was parked at the school of the parents’ older child.
“Only in the evening was the girl found in the car at the school of the parents’ older child,” VRT NWS reported, citing the prosecutor’s office. “The girl was still taken to hospital, but help could no longer avail.”
The exact time at which the child was discovered has not yet been made public. The Leuven prosecutor’s office said it is continuing its investigation into the precise circumstances of the death.
A Recurring Tragedy
The Bertem case follows a rare but documented pattern of young children dying after being forgotten in vehicles in Belgium. In July 2025, a 15-month-old boy died of hyperthermia in Namur after his father forgot to drop him at a crèche, having first taken an older child elsewhere, as VRT NWS reported. The grandparents raised the alarm in the evening when they went to collect the child. The Namur prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into involuntary manslaughter — the standard procedure in such cases.
In June 2023, a six-month-old baby died in Charleroi after her mother, a hospital employee, forgot to take her to the crèche and left her on the hospital parking lot where she worked, as VRT NWS reported. The cause of death was confirmed as hyperthermia, or overheating. “She sat in the car all day,” the Charleroi prosecutor said at the time, adding that no autopsy was needed because the cause was clear.
Belgian authorities have documented similar deaths in 2012, when a father forgot his daughter on the way to childcare and the girl died of dehydration, and in 2007 and 2009.
Why It Happens So Quickly
On warm days, the temperature inside a parked car can rise to dangerous levels within minutes, creating serious risk for young children whose bodies cannot yet regulate heat efficiently. According to the Brussels fire brigade, at an outside temperature of 30 degrees Celsius, the interior of a car can reach 45 degrees after just 10 minutes and climb above 60 degrees within half an hour.
“Within a few minutes, a car turns into an oven,” the fire brigade warned in a safety appeal, citing the greenhouse effect that traps solar radiation inside the vehicle. Leaving a window slightly open does not provide sufficient protection. The service urged anyone who sees a child alone in a car during high temperatures to call the emergency number 112 immediately.
The case has also drawn attention to how such lapses occur. Belgian prosecutors routinely investigate these deaths as involuntary manslaughter, reflecting their accidental but negligent nature.
What to Watch
The Leuven prosecutor’s office has not confirmed a formal cause of death, and key details — including the exact time of discovery and the precise location within Bertem — remain undisclosed. The identities of the child and her parents have been withheld, consistent with Belgian privacy practice in such cases.
As the investigation continues, the Bertem death is likely to renew attention on prevention campaigns and on the broader question of how routine parental memory lapses can prove fatal in a matter of hours. The recurring nature of these incidents in Belgium — at least five comparable cases since 2007 — suggests the tragedy is less an anomaly than a persistent, and preventable, risk.
Are you affected by the issues in this article? In Belgium, emergency assistance is available by calling 112.