Separate investigations are under way in Italy and the United States after two children died this month when they became trapped in sweltering vehicles, underscoring the persistent danger of hot-car incidents during the summer heat. In Sardinia, four-year-old Danir, the son of a Moldovan couple on holiday in Olmedo, slipped away from a vacation home on 6 August and was later found unconscious on the back seat of the family car, where interior temperatures exceeded 50 °C. He was first treated in intensive care at a hospital in Sassari and then air-lifted to Rome’s Gemelli University Hospital, but succumbed to heat-related injuries on 11 August. The Rome public prosecutor’s office has opened an inquiry to determine whether negligence played a role. Three days later in Milford, Maine, police discovered a three-year-old girl and the family’s 13-year-old dog dead inside her mother’s locked vehicle outside a local business. An initial autopsy indicated hyperthermia as the probable cause of death. The child’s mother, Kelly Brown, 40, was arrested on a manslaughter charge; a judge set bail at US$50,000 and barred her from contact with minors pending further proceedings. Court documents cite surveillance footage showing the child was left in the car for several hours; the day’s high temperature reached 82 °F (28 °C). Authorities in both countries have renewed warnings about the speed at which vehicle interiors can become lethal, even in moderate outdoor conditions. The deaths follow a separate near-miss in Utah this week, where passers-by rescued a perspiring toddler from a parked car, emphasising what safety advocates describe as a preventable but recurring hazard.