Bancroft, Ont., toddler dies after being forgotten in hot car: mayor

Police are investigating after a 23-month-old child was found without vital signs in a car in Bancroft, Ontario.

In a news release, the Ontario Provincial Police Bancroft Detachment said officers were called to a parking lot on Monck Road around 3:45 p.m. on June 23.

Police found a child without vital signs. Paramedics transported the toddler to hospital and shortly afterwards they were pronounced dead, police said.

Paul Jenkins, the mayor of Bancroft, told Global News the child who died was part of a family he had known for 30 years.

He said the mother, who works at a local school, went to work on Thursday unaware that she had not dropped her child off at daycare. School staff tried unsuccessfully to perform life-saving treatment on the child, the mayor said.

An autopsy will be performed so that the police can determine the cause of death.

The Ontario Provincial Police withheld the child’s identity and asked anyone with information to contact them.