A baby has died in Piacenza, Italy, after having been forgotten in a car for some eight hours.

The car was parked on the eastern outskirts of the town.

Doctors tried in vain to revive the two-year-old, and the police are now trying to determine the cause of death.

Italian media said it appeared the child's father forgot the boy in the car when he went to work in the morning.

A passer-by raised the alarm at about 5 p.m, according to some reports. Other reports said the grandfather found the baby after being told he had not been taken to the nursery in the morning.

The child is believed to have died as a consequence of the heat.

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