The timely intervention of a Good Samaritan and the Dubai Police rescue team helped save the life of two young Indian children, who were left alone in a locked vehicle without air conditioner or ventilation.

Dubai Police cut open the rear window of the car and rescued the children -- a boy and a girl below three -- who were in a semi-conscious condition.
 
Leaving children alone in vehicles could prove dangerous especially during summer and many deaths have been reported from school buses and cars in the region.
 
Shaji Thomas, Manager, Technical Service Co, Saif Zone Abu Dhabi, who informed the Dubai Police, said: “I was trying to park my car behind the NMC Hospital in Al Ghusais when I heard children crying and on closer examination of a vehicle parked nearby I found two children sitting inside the car with the engine on. It was locked from inside and the air-conditioner was switched off.”
 
“The car air-conditioner was switched off and the parents had left their kids alone,” said Thomas, who was in Dubai for business purpose: 
 
“I felt that the kids were in danger and called the police, who reached the spot within two minutes. A policeman who came on a motor bike could not open the door but he called an ambulance. Within minutes the ambulance came and experts from the rescue team cut open the rear glass and saved the two kids,” said Thomas.
 
“Parents need to be careful while leaving children alone in vehicles,” Thomas said. 
 
Experts have advised that parents should not leave their children in cars and lock them in while going for shopping or other purposes. Lack of oxygen could lead to partial damage of the brain.
 
When they were rescued the children were in semi-conscious condition and the younger child had almost fainted. It seems that the father left behind his wife and children in the car with the engine and the air-conditioner on.
 
When the mother went to pick up a food parcel from an adjacent restaurant, it is assumed that the children could have accidentally switched off the air-conditioner or locked the car.
 
“Both the parents, who belong to the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, came back rushing, but they could not open the door as there was no spare key with them,” Thomas added.
 
It is likely that the parents could be slapped with a fine by Dubai Police for violating child safety norms. 
 
When children get locked inside vehicles, police use special equipment to cut open doors or windows to rescue them. Police often warn parents not to keep car keys within the reach of children and always monitor their movements.

In May 2010, a four-year-old Indian student died in Qatar after she was left alone in a locked bus for over four hours.

The girl apparently died of heat and asphyxiation in the bus parked by its driver after taking children to the school, but without ensuring that they all got off when they reached their destination. The victim was identified as Sarah Gazdhar, a KG-1 student of DPS-MIS (Delhi Public School - Modern Indian School) located in the Rawda area in Doha.
 
Fidah Mohammed Haris, 5, a student of Dammam International Indian School, Saudi Arabia died in her school bus due to asphyxiation on Sunday June 13, 2010.
 
Aimen Zeshan, a four-and-a-half-year-old pupil, was found dead in May 2009 on a private bus hours after she should arrived at school. Her death certificate cited heat and suffocation as the cause of death.