Agnese died under the sun. What went wrong with the baby-saving device?

A fatal oversight, five hours under the sun. So Agnese, a 14-month-old girl from Mogliano (Treviso), instead of being accompanied by her father to the summer camp, lost her life yesterday in the parking lot of the industrial area of ​​Marcon (Venice).

“We are devastated.” The parents, after spending the afternoon in the emergency room, entrust these words to the parish priest, who together with the community defends them. “It could have happened to anyone,” repeat the family members, neighbors, and mayors. Agnese is the tenth victim in 25 years in Italy of the so-called forgotten child syndrome.

Beyond the immense family tragedy, the investigations will clarify whether the baby-saving device introduced to counteract sudden blackouts that in moments of stress can strike anyone with dramatic consequences was present and functioning in the car.

Since 2019, however, a law has been in force in Italy that requires the installation of approved anti-abandonment devices in cars for children aged 0 to 4 years.: the fines for families who do not install these devices range from 81 to 326 euros with the possibility of suspension of the license in the event of a repeat offense. There are two types of anti-abandonment devices on the market (with a price ranging from 35 to 70 euros): one that includes all the “cushion” variants, to be positioned where the child sits, and another clip, which is attached to the seat belts.

The simplest models require a connection to the car’s cigarette lighter, and only have an acoustic signal that is activated when the car is turned off. More technological are the variants equipped with a smartphone app, which via Bluetooth connection create a link between the mobile phone and the device. In this case, when the sensors detect the presence of the child in the seat when the driver moves away from the vehicle, they will be instantly activated. a series of countermeasures (sound effects, vibration, messages) and, at a later time (usually after three minutes), text messages will be sent to emergency contactswith indications for the geolocation of the vehicle.

Asap-Associazione Amici Polizia Stradale intervenes after the tragedy in Marcon to relaunch the campaign “Don’t forget me”.«We remember that every year in the world and also in our country we witness particularly serious episodes in which hundreds of children die, due to heat stroke on board closed vehicles, inside which children or grandchildren are forgotten, or because they themselves have inadvertently closed the vehicle while playing, remaining trapped inside», explains the association. Family tragedies are immense, the pain of losing a child often turns into deep psychological crises of a family that continues to live in remorse and often the only way out is by creating associations that begin to raise awareness of the delicate issue of our children’s health.”