A 3-year-old girl has died after being left in a burning car that was chained shut from the inside, sources close to an investigation say.
Police found one gas canister near the car in New York and another in the backseat of the vehicle, although it is currently unclear whether it was purposely set on fire.
The girl, who has been named as Zoey Pereira, was pulled out of the Audi A6 Sedan and rushed to hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
A man has been taken into custody after witnesses reportedly saw him flee from the scene in flames and run into a nearby pond.
ABC7 Eyewitness News has reported that the man is the biological father of the girl, who lived in Queens, New York, with her mother.
No charges have been filed against the man but he is reportedly being questioned by police.
Officials responded to reports of a car stopped in the middle of the road on Sunday night and found the vehicle engulfed in flames.
Firefighters were able to pull the girl out because the heat from inside the car had melted the door handle, a source told theNew York Post.
“I was inside, I heard a big bomb and my sister was saying she thought it was a gunshot,” witness Lisa Silvera told CBS New York.
“We came out and there was a lady standing there [who] said ‘There was a guy on fire and he ran to the water over there’… they took the baby out and the baby was badly burned.”
The man, who suffered second and third degree burns, was hospitalised last night.
The car has remained at the scene as investigators search for more information on the cause of the fire.
