Tragedy in holiday town on Spain's Mediterranean coast after parked car rolls down slope, killing 20-day-old baby and seriously injuring the child's mother

Calpe, a popular holiday town in Alicante province on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, is in mourning following an accident on Sunday, 14 September, which has shocked the entire municipality. A car that was parked near a housing estate rolled out of control down a sloping road and hit a mother who was walking with her baby, a little girl aged just 20 days old who was in a pushchair, SUR's sister newspaper TodoAlicante has been able to confirm.

The impact was devastating. The baby died and the mother, aged 37, was seriously injured and remains in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Dénia Hospital.

The terrible event was witnessed by the child's father and his son, aged four, who were standing just a few metres away when the incident happened.

Due to the location of the accident, and the difficulty of access for the medical services, Calpe town hall had to open a private plot of land as an emergency measure to facilitate the entry and exit of the ambulance that attended to the victims.

The rapid action of the health workers allowed the mother to be stabilised at the scene before being transferred to hospital. The baby was evacuated to the neonatal ICU at the Hospital de la Fe in Valencia, where she died.

The Local Police force has opened an investigation to clarify the exact circumstances of the accident. Everything suggests that the car's handbrake gave way or was not properly activated, which caused the vehicle to roll downhill out of control.