A woman suffocated to death after she became trapped in the window of a car.
Identified as Bernadette Delmotte, she was involved in a freak accident in Saône-et-Loire, in the east of France, on 13 June, according to local media reports.
The 60-year-old reportedly died while cleaning her Fiat 500 as she became trapped by its automatically closing window.
It’s said that Delmotte had put her head through the open window to reach for the car’s handbrake as she had forgotten to apply it.
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And tragically, while doing that, she accidentally triggered the button for the automatic window, meaning it closed on her throat.
After the woman failed to show up for dinner later that evening and failed to answer several calls, friends visited her home, where they reportedly found her body stuck in the car window.
According to an autopsy, Delmotte died of asphyxiation, with France 3 reporting that her death was ruled as accidental, with no foul play involved.
“I didn't believe it. When they called me to tell me one morning, I was confused, in denial," her brother, François, told the outlet, as he says he was ‘overwhelmed’ and began to tell himself ‘all sorts of things’ before it became clearer.
"I didn't understand what they were saying, because they were talking about a problem with the car. So I thought it was a car accident, and little by little, I realized what had happened."
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He added that even the police ‘were confused’ to begin with. “They were asking, 'What the hell happened?' I didn't understand it either,” François said.
Her close friend offered up an explanation that it seemed the handbrake ‘hadn’t been applied’ and the car began ‘to roll backward’ while the woman was cleaning it.
“To stop it, Bernadette threw herself through the open window to stop it from going any further,” Béatrice said.
“But her hand moved over the window control, and by the time she straightened up, the window stopped on her neck."
Her brother is currently not seeking compensation for the tragic accident, but noted that he had contacted Fiat about the incident.
François explained: “I am not in the process of claiming compensation, because that will not give me back my sister. I simply want to start thinking about it to avoid further tragedies.”
LADbible has contacted Fiat for comment.
Jess Battison