Baby Rescued From Locked Car, Several Die In Extreme Heat
A15-month-old baby had to be rescued from a locked car as the heatwave in Australia shows no sign of cooling off. The baby was one of four children who had to be rescued from vehicles on Friday in Melbourne as the mercury continued to climb higher.
Eleven children had to be rescued the previous day, but none had to be taken to hospital. Several people died from cardiac arrests as extreme heat swept across the state of Victoria. Paramedics were called to 31 cardiac arrests on Thursday alone. The 15-month-old was the only infant taken to hospital, Ambulance Victoria said.
“The child taken to hospital was ... only in that car for a very short time and in that very short time became visibly distressed and needed medical transport,” Paul Holman said.
“It really shows you ... how vulnerable these little ones are,” Holman said.
The mercury topped 40.3 degrees Celsius in the Melbourne CBD at 2.27pm on Friday, and dropped to 35.8C as the cool change arrived not long after 3pm.
The searing heat led to concerns about players safety at the Australia Open.
Elize Cornet of France collapsed onto her back midway through a game out of heat exhaustion. Up against Belgian Elise Mertens, Cornet eventually finished the game but required a medical timeout to continue.
Shortly after temperatures peaked just above 40C - a marker that would have been enough for Australian Open officials to enact their discretionary heat policy the mercury began to slowly drop. The cool change saw temperatures in the inner-city plummet 10 degrees.
Several people died from cardiac arrests as extreme heat swept across the state of Victoria.