Kuala Muda police chief Adzli Abu Shah said the boy was found unconscious in the car belonging to the kindergarten principal at 12.15pm.

He said the principal had driven the boy to the kindergarten at 7.45am and he had sat in the back seat. On the way, she picked up another boy, aged five, who sat in the front passenger seat.

When they arrived at the kindergarten, a teacher opened the front passenger door and brought the other boy to class. The principal then drove away to park her car outside the kindergarten, he said in a statement today.

The boy was left in the car with the doors locked and windows wound up, he said.

Adzli said that at 12.15pm, a teacher notified the principal that the boy was absent from class. They then rushed to the car and found him unconscious inside.

“The principal called for an ambulance and tried to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation but the child did not respond. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead,” he said.

He said the principal has been remanded for three days to facilitate further investigations under Section 31(1) (a) of the Child Act 2001.