A young girl was left fighting for her life after being left in a locked childcare van for several hours.
3-year-old Nevaeh Austin from Gracemere, Queensland, was found unconscious in a hot school bus after being left all alone in the vehicle for six hours.
According to the investigators, the Le Smileys Early Learning Centre student was picked up from her home by a school bus at around 9 am on Wednesday.
After the bus arrived at the school, however, both the driver and the childcare worker that were on the bus when Nevaeh was picked up forgot about the girl and proceeded to lock the bus while the toddler was still inside.
Six hours later, paramedics were called to the scene after the child was found unconscious.
She has since been rushed to Rockhampton Hospital where she is fighting for her life as of this writing.
“It would appear she was the only child at the time,” Capricornia Police District Detective Inspector Darrin Shadlow said during a Thursday press conference.
“When they returned to the center, the driver and one other person on the bus have forgotten she was there.”
Shadlow went on to assure the community that no stone will be left unturned to get to the bottom of the incident.
“We will leave no stone unturned in relation to this investigation. We have assistance from the crime intelligence command, our child trauma unit in Brisbane, and photographic and forensic officers attending the scene, just so we can get to the base of what has happened,” he added.
While the detective confirmed that the daycare in question cooperated to a certain degree, he revealed the business has “sought legal advice and will be going down that path.”
The investigation remains ongoing.
Our thoughts are with Nevaeh who, according to her doctors, remains in critical but stable condition.
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