Toddler dies after getting head trapped behind a mirror at nursery ‘while staff partied during birthday celebration’

A one-year-old boy has died after becoming trapped behind a nursery mirror while staff allegedly partied at a birthday celebration.

Tragedy struck at the Luz do Bras childcare centre in the Bras district of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, on Wednesday.

Abdoulaye Dieng was in a playroom with other children when his head slipped into the gap between a metal safety bar protecting a mirror and the wall.

Horrifying security camera footage showed the toddler desperately trying to free himself for six agonising minutes.

After noticing he was trapped, nursery workers managed to prise him from the gap, according to the Civil Police investigation.

Military Police officers on patrol were approached by childcare staff at around 9.20am.

Employees had scrambled out of the nursery carrying the unconscious child in their arms.

Abdoulaye was rushed to Mooca Emergency Care Unit but was later pronounced dead.

Abdoulaye’s father, Ibrahima Dieng said he dropped his son at the nursery at about 7.30am.

But just 90 minutes later the Senegalese street vendor, who has lived in Brazil for eight years, said he received a phone call telling him the boy was involved in an accident.

He said: “I went to the school and asked, ‘Where is my child?’ They told me to wait, and then they said he had died.

“We have to cry, cry so much. It’s heart-breaking.”

He added that Abdoulaye’s mother became ill after receiving the news and that the family had been left shattered by the loss.

Police launched a fresh line of inquiry after receiving allegations that the children may have been left unsupervised.

Nursery employees were allegedly enjoying a birthday celebration when the accident happened.

Investigators seized the nursery’s CCTV footage to establish whether staff were absent from the room at the time.

Police said witness statements indicated the gathering took place before the tragedy.

The case has been registered as suspected negligent homicide – meaning there is no allegation of intent to kill.

Five members of staff, including coordinators, the director and teaching staff, are under investigation.

The family’s lawyer, Erson de Oliveira, said: “What we were told is that the child was playing without supervision.

“He trapped his head in the metal bar holding the mirror and suffocated without anyone helping him until he died.”

The CCTV footage appeared to support concerns the toddler was left without proper supervision, the lawyer said.

Oliveira added: “Just as he managed to put his head into the gap, someone could have lifted his little body and easily pulled him free if they had been there. That help never came.”

Oliveira also questioned why nursery staff took the child to hospital themselves instead of immediately calling an ambulance or the fire brigade.

Other parents told Brazilian media they had previously complained about an alleged lack of staff at the nursery.

One mother claimed a single teacher was sometimes left looking after between 12 and 15 children.