The boy was airlifted in critical condition from Fuerteventura to a hospital on Gran Canaria, but doctors could not save him. This is the third similar case in just a few weeks.
A 20-month-old child died over the weekend from heatstroke on the Spanish island of Fuerteventura. According to local media, the baby was reportedly left in a car after a parent inadvertently forgot to take them out.
The information was confirmed to the EFE agency by the regional health ministry. The child was first admitted in critical condition to the General Hospital on Fuerteventura, from where they were urgently transferred by medical helicopter to the University Maternal and Child Hospital (Materno Infantil) in Las Palmas on Gran Canaria. Despite doctors' efforts, the boy died in the early hours of Sunday.
The Canary Islands were hit by a severe heatwave over the weekend. Fuerteventura had been under a yellow warning since Friday due to high temperatures, while on Gran Canaria temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius, and according to some sources reached up to 45 degrees Celsius. A red warning was issued for mountainous areas and the southern, eastern, and western parts of Gran Canaria, while parts of neighboring Tenerife were under an orange warning.
No further details have been released about the circumstances of the incident, including how long the child was in the vehicle or where the family is from. Local reports indicate the family was on vacation.
This tragedy is not an isolated case. Just a few weeks ago, on July 23, 2026, an 18-month-old girl named Sofia died in Portugal. She was left for seven hours in a licensed daycare transport vehicle, a Peugeot 5008, parked in the town of Almada, near the famous Cristo Rei sanctuary not far from Lisbon. The temperature that day reached 30 degrees.
Her mother came to pick up her daughter in the afternoon, but at the Colegio Mestre Cuco nursery, she was told the child had never arrived. Emergency services were called just before 4 p.m., and the girl was found in critical condition outside the nursery. Despite resuscitation attempts, death was pronounced at the scene, and an investigation was launched against the nursery.
Another case occurred in June 2026 in France, when two children aged two and four were found dead in a family car in the town of Carpentras in the southeast of the country, also during a heatwave.
