Two young children, aged two and four, were found dead in their family car in the southern French town of Carpentras on Monday.
According to preliminary findings, the brothers locked themselves in the car by accident, the local prosecutor’s office said.
The children’s mother found them in a car parked on the road leading to the family’s home. Emergency services tried to revive the children but were unable to save them.
The prosecutor’s office has opened a preliminary investigation into manslaughter. A postmortem examination has been ordered to determine the exact cause and circumstances of the deaths.
The 33-year-old mother was treated by firefighters for shock. Investigators were initially unable to question him because of his condition, authorities said. The investigation is ongoing.
The tragedy occurred while France was enduring extreme heat wave. Temperatures have reached up to 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of the country.
