5-year-old Texas boy dies after being found in hot auto

A 5-year-old autistic boy died Sunday after he was found unconscious in a hot vehicle in Burleson, about an hour after his family called authorities to say he’d gotten out of the house, police said.

The police department said in a statement Sunday evening that the boy had died.

A BPD sergeant searched cars in the driveway and on the street and found Zachary in the backseat of a vehicle on the street, parked between the family’s home and the neighbor’s house, Berg said.

The child’s father told police that they could not find his son Zachary Elshaarawy, who has autism and doesn’t speak clearly.

“I don’t know how I’m going to live”, said a visibly distraught Darek.

Zachary was reported lacking for about 15 minutes, police stated. A woman, who identified herself as the child’s grandmother, told officers that several people had checked the home.

After police and a dozen citizens searched the home, the area around the lake and along Hwy 174, Zachary was located. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, but doctors were unable to save him.

He said Buleson police had not made contact with the family after the boy was transported to the hospital.

As of August 12, a San Jose State University study had tallied 14 heatstroke deaths of children left in cars in the U.S. this year.

The Nationwide Climate Service reported the surface temperature reached 97 levels in close by Cleburne at three p.m. Temperatures in an enclosed vehicle can soar inside minutes. There were 31 such deaths in 2014.