SEREMBAN: A 34-year-old van driver has been arrested following the death of an eight-year-old girl with learning difficulties.

       Seremban police chief ACP Mohd Said Ibrahim said preliminary probe revealed that the suspect had fetched the victim and was supposed to send the autistic child to a day care centre in Taman Nusari Aman earlier in the day on Tuesday (Oct 12).

       "However, the suspect apparently forgot to do that and returned home without realising that the victim was still in the vehicle.

       "The victim remained in the van for three hours from 2.30pm onwards and was later found unconscious," he said in a statement.

       ACP Mohd Said said the victim was rushed to the Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital but was pronounced dead.

       Police received a report around 7.45pm yesterday.

       He said police will apply for a remand order to probe the case under Section 31(1) of the Child Act 2001.

       A postmortem will also be carried out to determine the cause of death.