Update: Children die in car
More information came to light on the five children who were trapped in a car inside a yard yesterday in Strubenvale.
Five children were trapped in a car in a yard in Strubenvale on Monday afternoon leading to two of them being declared dead on the scene.
The children were discovered at around 3pm in Hanson Road.
According to William Ntladi, spokesman of Ekurhuleni Emergency Services, there were five children trapped in the car.
“The children went missing after they had lunch at around noon and we received the call at 3.12pm,” says Ntladi.
He says the vehicle was there for repairs and the children went to play inside it.
The door handles on the inside of the car and the windows were broken and Ntladi says: “There was no way they could open the car from the inside.”
Santi Steinmann, Media Liaison officer for Netcare 911, says the children went outside to play after they had lunch and went into the car and could not get out.
Two of the children, a boy (2) and a girl (3), were declared dead on the scene, while a boy (4) was in a critical condition.
The boy was transported to Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg by ambulance after receiving medical treatment on the scene.
Two girls, one aged 18 months and the other about five-years-old, were in serious but stable condition and were transported to Far East Rand Hospital (FERH).
The five-year-old girl had already been discharged when the Addie returned to the house on Tuesday morning.
Ntladi adds when Ekurhuleni Emergency Services arrived on the scene, three children were lying outside the car and two were in the house.
They were discovered by the three women who were at the house, who took them out of the car.
The women started searching for the children just before 3pm after they last saw them at noon.
When the women eventually found the children in the car they called for help and the neighbours phoned emergency services.
The vehicle was already open when the Ekurhuleni emergency services arrived at the house.
The Addie, during our visit, saw more than 10 cars in the yard.
Ntladi says according to their knowledge the vehicles were there to be repaired.Â
Warrant officer Tommy Tomlinson, spokesman for the Springs Police, says “there were allegedly three women on the premises, but we are not clear whether they were taking care of the children.
“We suspect the children suffocated,” he says.
There is an on-going investigation and the Springs SAPS will open a case of child neglect.
Family and friends thanked Ntladi on the scene for the emergency services’ great response.
