In a distressing incident, four-year-old Minsa Mariam Jacob was found dead inside her school bus in Qatar on Sunday, 11 September, on her birthday.
Minsa was studying in kindergarten in Wakra, and was left alone in a locked school bus for over four hours, according to the Gulf Times.
Reports also state that Minsa is the second daughter of the couple Abilash Chacko and Soumya, who hail from Kerala.
Speaking to Asianet News, the child’s relative in Chingavanam of Kottayam said that she had gone to school on Sunday morning. “However, she fell asleep and no one noticed. The vehicle was left behind and she got stuck inside it in high heat,” he said.
Once the classes were over in the afternoon and the driver and conductor came back to drop the children at their homes, they found Minsa in an unconscious state.
Though she was immediately taken to the Wakra Hospital, she could not be saved. Qatar Tribune reported that the maximum temperature across Qatar was between 36°C and 43°C.
‘Authorities Will Take Necessary Measures’: Qatar Ministry of Education and Higher Education
Meanwhile, Qatar Ministry of Education and Higher Education, in its Twitter handle has mourned the death of the child and said that an investigation has been launched into the incident.
“The Ministry of Education and Higher Education mourns the death of a kindergarten student at a private school. The Ministry, in cooperation with the respective authorities have started an investigation into the incident. The Ministry, as well as the respective authorities will take the necessary measures as well as the maximum punishment against the aggressors with regards to regulations and according to the results of the ongoing investigation. The ministry also affirms its keenness to adhere to the highest quality of security and safety standards for its students, and will not tolerate any shortcomings in this regard. It extends its sincerest condolences to the family of the deceased student,” the ministry tweeted.
Earlier, in July 2021, a similar incident was reported in Ajman of the United Arab Emirates, where a four-year-old boy died after being left inside his bus for several hours, due to suffocation inside the bus and high temperature.
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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