Story highlights Day care staff found 5-year-old boy dead inside van on Monday afternoon

Staff did not follow policies and procedures, day care CEO says

(CNN) Four Arkansas day care employees were fired Wednesday after the death of a 5-year-old who was left inside a van all day.

The staff did not follow company policies and procedures, Ascent Children's Health Services CEO Dan Sullivan said in a statement. Had they followed protocol "this tragedy would not have occurred," he said.

"There are simply no words to express the overwhelming sadness we feel at the death of this child. We are heartbroken and our thoughts and prayers go out to the family. Ascent will continue to fully cooperate with the authorities and state agencies as they investigate this tragic incident," Sullivan said.

The West Memphis, Arkansas, location has been closed since the Monday incident.

The boy's mother told CNN affiliate WMC the van picked him up around 6:30 a.m. He may have been asleep when the van arrived at the day care early Monday and never got off the van, West Memphis Police said.

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