Police are investigating how a three-year-old boy was left to die in a day care bus in Cairns, which is in the midst of a heatwave where temperatures skyrocket above 34C.

The boy was tragically found dead by the driver of the Goodstart Early Learning Centre minibus.

Queensland Police Far North Inspector Jason Smith said investigators are still piecing together how the tragedy unfolded.

“We’re just trying to work out exactly what’s happened between now and when he should have been delivered to the daycare centre,” he said to The Courier Mail.

“It appears the child was to be delivered to a daycare centre. The child has now been discovered deceased.”

Goodstart Early Learning CEO Julia Davison admitted on Channel 9’s Today that the organisation “doesn’t know what happened”.

“All of our 15,000 educators are devastated and shocked,” she said.

“It is every family’s worst nightmare that something might happen to their child and it is every educator’s worst nightmare something might happen to a child in their care.”

TRAGIC: A three-year-old boy has been found dead on a childcare bus in Cairns. #9Today pic.twitter.com/kyxZ4doIBz

— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) February 18, 2020

It is not apparent why the van was parked outside Hambledon State School, which is just 1.6kms away from a Goodstart Early Learning Centre.

“Obviously there’s the police investigation that has already commenced. There will be various other agencies who are involved in investigations. We have decided, as a precaution — this has been a very difficult decision for us to make — to not use our buses from later today,” Davison explained.

“We obviously don’t know what happened in this particular incident but we want to be cautious but at the same time we’re a not-for-profit that picks up and collects lots of vulnerable children who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to access early learning.”

Inspector Smith said that the scenario is awful.

“The mother has been notified,” he said. “The death of any child is an awful thing, which is why it is so important for us to get to the bottom of this.”

“We don’t know at this stage because it is early days, and a number of factors could be at play here”.

“We’ll investigate all possibilities,” he said.