Georgia hot car deaths: Father charged after leaving children

Image source, APTN

Image caption, Residents were trying to revive the girls when police arrived

A father has been arrested after his twin 15-month-old girls died when he left them in a hot car in the US state of Georgia on Thursday.

Asa North, 24, of Carrollton, west of Atlanta, was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of reckless conduct, jail records show.

The girls had been found unresponsive in the back seat of a vehicle parked outside a block of flats, police said.

Residents had tried to revive the infants with ice packs in a baby pool.

"The neighbours heard some screaming - I guess coming from the father - and saw him running around back with the two children,'' police officer Chris Dobbs told Atlanta television station CBS 46.

Image source, APTN

Image caption, Asa North was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of reckless conduct

The girls, identified in local media reports as Ariel Roxanne North and Alaynah Maryanne North, were later taken to hospital where they were pronounced dead. Post-mortems have yet to be carried out.

The girl's mother was said to be in Atlanta at the time, visiting a relative.