Child dies in Malaysia after being locked in car

A three-year-old Malaysian girl died after being left in a car for 45 minutes by her father who forgot to take her with him as he rushed to attend his cousin's funeral here.

The incident happened on Sunday in Kampung Morak when Ishak Salleh left his child in the car parked in the blazing sun with windows shut for at least 45 minutes before he remembered about her.

When he rushed back to the car he found his daughter Nur Izyan Natasya crying and having difficulty in breathing.

She was rushed to hospital where she was declared brought dead.

The girl was youngest of Salleh's six children and had followed him, his sister and his brother-in-law to the funeral of his cousin.

"I thought my sister and brother-in-law had taken her as I had rushed out of the car to send the body to the cemetery. "I only knew that she had been left behind when my relatives came looking for me to ask for the car key," New Straits Times quoted him as saying.

Ishak's sister, Che Mas Mohd Salleh, 55, said she was shocked when villagers who saw the child inside told her that Nur Izyan was crying and looked pale.

"I wanted to break the window, but the villagers told me to wait for the key. By the time the car was opened, the child was already too weak," she said.

The father said he was shocked over the death of his youngest daughter, but accepted it as fate.