US toddler baked in minibus

Photo / The Aucklander

FLORIDA - A two-year-old girl baked to death in a minibus after the driver forgot she was there and accidentally locked her inside.

Haley Brockington was trapped for at least six hours as temperatures reached 33C outside the bus and 60C inside, the Palm Beach Post reported.

Haley had been picked up from her home in Delray Beach, Florida, on Thursday morning and taken to Katie's Kids Learning Centre but was never taken off the bus.

She was found slumped inside when the driver unlocked the bus at 4pm to start taking children home again. "It was a God's honest mistake," said a learning centre worker.

When told, Haley's mother, Nelda Lester, collapsed outside the centre and had to be helped into a church. Haley's grandfather, Willie Lester, said: "I hope they shut that whole facility down and lock up everyone that worked there, because that's neglect.

"How can you just forget somebody?"

Paulette Robinson, a family friend, said: "People go to work and put their kids in daycare centres so their kids can be safe, so we have no worries."

Haley's death is the 29th incident of its kind in the United States this year.