Two young boys who died in a car during a record-breaking heatwave in France have been identified as four-year-old Kassim Benouali and his two-year-old brother Sadek. The vehicle may have reached temperatures as high as 70°C, according to investigators.
Incident details
The boys were found unresponsive in a white Peugeot by their mother, Wafa El Boubkari, after she returned home from a swimming trip and a visit to a supermarket in Bois de l'Ubac, Carpentras. Emergency services were called at around 1pm, but despite efforts, the children could not be resuscitated.
Prosecutors initially suggested the children had locked themselves inside the vehicle without their mother's knowledge. However, it was later reported that Ms Boubkari told police she had 'forgotten her children'. A source close to the investigation told AFP that the mother gave police several different versions of events.
Investigation and mother's statement
In her revised statement, the mother said the children got inside the car without her knowing, locked the doors, and became trapped. A manslaughter investigation has been launched. A preliminary postmortem conducted on Tuesday found that the boys died of dehydration from exposure to excessive heat.
The boys' grandmother, Fatiha, called it a “huge tragedy,” describing how her daughter and the boys had been for a swim and to the shops before returning home. “She then drove home with the boys who she left in the car to offload the shopping,” she told the Mail. “It was a genuine mistake, nothing illegal has happened. Everybody has been struggling to focus in this heat, she got busy, and my daughter was also dealing with a lot of other things in her life.”
Impact and community reaction
The incident has sent shockwaves through the country. Ms Boubkari's sister, who did not want to be named, said: “Wafa hasn't stopped crying, she's in a bad way, she's barely able to speak.” Ms Boubkari spent the first part of this week in hospital with shock. A colleague from the patisserie where she works described her as “a very nice, hardworking, down to earth woman who was dealing with a lot of things.” They added: “She's a very good mother and was doing her best. The pain she is going through must be unimaginable and beyond words. Our hearts go out to her, what has happened is horrific and tragic.”
A funeral for the two youngsters was held on Friday at Carpentras Mosque.
