3-year-old boy found trapped inside neighbor’s freezer

Police in the northern province of Ha Nam said Sunday that a suspect has been summoned in the case, but provided no further information as they were still “verifying the incident.”

At around 11:15 p.m. Saturday, the National Children’s Hospital in Hanoi received a young patient transferred from a Ha Nam hospital with respiratory failure, hypothermia and injuries in the head, face and neck.

Doctors said the boy had suffered from physical injuries, hemorrhage and inflammation on the head, face, neck and tongue, making it difficult for him to eat. The boy’s health has stabilized since.

“The patient’s family said he was found trapped inside a carton box kept in a freezer. At the time he was found, the boy was delirious,” a doctor said.

Ngo Minh Toan, chairman of the Nhan Chinh Commune People’s Committee, said the incident happened Saturday afternoon in Thuong Vi Village. The suspect is someone who’d came to the area and rented a house in Nhan Chinh Commune to sell iced tea, he said.

“At around 3 p.m. Saturday, the boy came to the suspect’s house to play. By 5 p.m., the boy’s grandfather did not see him returning home, so he checked the security cameras and saw that the boy never left the suspect’s house. His family went to the suspect’s house and found the boy in the freezer,” Toan said.