Two young brothers from Alabama died Saturday after a tragic hot car accident that is breaking the hearts of parents across the country. Three-year-old Daniel Garcia and 1-year-old Ivan Salazar Jr. managed to climb into a hot car on their own where they were later found unresponsive.
Police were called for a report of two missing children about 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
According to a press release on the Shelby County Sheriff's Office Facebook page, deputies arrived in the 400 block of Reynolds Cemetery Road near Mantevallo. The boys are believed to have gotten themselves locked inside the vehicle for more than an hour, according to AL.com.
The boys' parents thought they had been playing in their rooms before they discovered the pair missing.
After frantically searching for the children around their home, the parents found their boys unresponsive inside a vehicle in the yard, USA Today reported.
Emergency medical attention was given to the brothers at the scene.
The toddlers were transferred to Shelby Baptist Medical Center where they died, the sheriff's office statement read.
Coroner Lina Evans said the boys are thought to have gotten into the car about 1 p.m.
They weren't discovered until 3:30 p.m., according to AL.com. An exact cause of death will not be known until autopsies are performed.
It's important to note that temperatures were in the 90s on the day the brothers died. The boys' identities have not been released to the public.
The toddlers' deaths mark the 16th and 17th hot car deaths in the United States this year.
Unfortunately, children dying in hot cars is all too common, according to Kidsandcars.org, which noted that 88% of kids who died in hot car deaths are 3 or younger. Of all the hot car deaths between 1990 to 2019, 26% were the result of kids getting into the car on their own, the website stated.
The organization recommended that parents make it a habit to never leave cars unlocked "especially in the garage or driveway."
"Ask neighbors and visitors to do the same," the website advised.
Parents should also never leave keys within reach of children and should teach their kids how to honk the horn if they're ever stuck inside the car.
"If a child is missing, immediately check the inside, floorboards and trunk of all vehicles in the area very carefully," the website read.
It's not clear if any charges will be filed in the case, but for now, Evans told AL.com that the boys' deaths appear to be "just a tragic accident."
