Abu Dhabi: A four-year-old pupil died after he was allegedly left locked in his kindergarten van on Thursday.
Aathish, a KG grade 1 pupil of Merry Land kindergarten on Muroor Road in Abu Dhabi, boarded the van on Thursday morning and a phone call from the school at 12.50pm said he had met with an accident, his father told Gulf News.
"When my wife, father and friends reached Shaikh Khalifa Medical City, the doctors said the child was dead," said Shebin Sreedher who works at Jebel Ali in Dubai and hails from the southern Indian state of Kerala.
"He was my only son," he said. Dhanya, the boy's mother, works for Etihad Airways.
"A hospital report said the cause of the death was unknown, but we came to know from officials that he suffocated," said Shebin.
"We came to know that he did not alight from the van at the kindergarten. He was put in the van at 7.35 am by my father. It is suspected that no staff checked whether the boy alighted from the bus and reached the class.
"The driver and attendant might have taken the bus to the parking space and found the boy inside the bus in the afternoon," said Shebin.
He said police officials told him the matter is under investigation. Police were not available for comment.
A spokesman for the school said that the child had taken ill and was absent from classes for three days.
He said that they were not aware the child had boarded the bus that morning.
The driver himself rushed the child to hospital after he found him in the vehicle, the spokesman said.
The school is cooperating in the police investigations.
Your comments
This incident is shocking to all the parents. whoever is responsible for this incident, these things should not happen at any cost in the future. The government should issue a guideline to all the school authorities in order to avoid these types of incidents any more.
Prabhath
Dubai,UAE
Posted: April 26, 2008, 15:20
I was shocked to hear the tragic death of four-year-old boy in the school bus in Abu Dhabi because of the utter negligience of the bus attendant and the driver. The attendant of the bus should be taken to task. The concerned transport companies should form a policy and see that such things do not happen again and see that all kids are out of the bus before switching off the engine. Why are these attendants appointed in the bus? My sympathies goes to the bereaved family and pray the almighty to give immense strength to the bereaved family to bear this irrepairable loss.
Jayanth
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: April 26, 2008, 15:16
After reading this article its unbelievable how negligent this driver and conductors have been its really horrifying and our sympathies to the family. Severe action should be taken against them as well as the school and this incident should be avoided again.
Preethi Murali
abudhabi,uae
Posted: April 26, 2008, 15:07
Yet another incident has been reported, causing the death of an innocent child. Being a parent, I request the authorities and all school managements, to take adequate measures to avoid these type of incidents. School managements should train their staff properly to take special care for children. No more petty excuses as in this case.
Jayachandran
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: April 26, 2008, 14:54
