JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A 4-year-old girl from a charedi family who was being driven to school in Valley Village, Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday, was forgotten inside a hot vehicle for several hours. Her name has not yet been released.

The girl was picked up as part of a regular transportation route to school in Los Angeles. However, for reasons that remain unclear, she never got out of the vehicle upon arrival. The driver, apparently unaware that the child was still inside, parked the car and left.

Unable to free herself, the girl suffered from the extreme heat inside the vehicle and died.

The heartbreaking discovery was made only at the end of the school day, when the girl’s mother arrived to pick her up. School staff told her that her daughter had never arrived that morning. Emergency responders and rescue teams rushed to the scene, but it was already too late.

The tragedy is the latest in a series of hot-car deaths that claim the lives of young children across the United States every year, especially during the warmer months. Safety experts urge parents, drivers, and transportation providers to implement preventive measures, such as placing a personal item in the back seat, verifying headcounts upon arrival, or using car-seat alert systems, in order to prevent such heartbreaking incidents.