Article content continued

“The dad was dealing with the older brother, you have the groceries coming in, you have all these other people, and you can certainly see how in the shuffle you could misplace your child for a period of time,” said Harris County Sergeant Ben Beall, who is on the county’s Child Fatality Review Board, which meets once a month to review all child deaths that occur in the county.

“Now, you can argue that two hours for misplacing a two-year-old is a little excessive.”

From 2000 to 2009, excessive heat killed more people on average in the United States than any other natural disaster, most of them children. Outdoor temperatures on Thursday reached 37C while the temperature inside the vehicle reached 50C. At the time of his death, Khoa’s body temperature was 40C.

Eight children have died in Texas due to excessive heat in the past two months, Sgt. Beall said. Three weeks ago, a two-year-old in an elderly woman’s care died under similar circumstances. The little boy had wandered outside and locked himself in an abandoned vehicle. Police found him five hours later.

The invention of the airbag has led to a marked increase in child deaths due to excessive heat, according to Janette Fennell of the nonprofit organization Kids and Cars. Because children can no longer sit in front seats due to risk of passenger airbag detonation, parents are more likely to forget their children are seated behind them.

“In the early ’90s, when there were no air bags, it wasn’t an issue,” Ms. Fennell said. “We haven’t put anything in place to compensate for that change.”