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19 March 2024

Child's death in Abu Dhabi school bus: Trial begins

Published
By Wam

All suspects in a case of death of a four-year old Asian pupil in a private school in Abu Dhabi will stand trial today. The KG1 school girl had died when she had fallen asleep inside a bus and was left alone for several hours.

The Public Prosecutor has accused the bus driver and bus attendant of causing the death of the child as they failed to do their job properly. The school employee tasked with checking the attendance of students was among those suspected of negligence.

The school management and the school transport provider were also charged with endangering the lives of students since they deployed an unlicensed bus that did not fulfill school transportation safety requirements.

Also, they employed unqualified and unlicensed supervisors. The owner of the transport company will also face charges for having hired  bus attendants who did not meet sponsorship transfer terms and conditions.

Attorney-General of Abu Dhabi Ali Mohammed Abdullah Al Balushi said the case had elicited overwhelming sympathy for the family of the victim who was left alone to die in torturous circumstances inside the bus in searing heat.

He added that the forensic report had showed that excessive heat exhaustion and inability to breathe were behind the death of the child.

He emphasised that justice will be served to ease the suffering of the distressed family that has lost its child in a painful way.

A source at the Attorney General's Office said the driver confessed before the police investigators that he did not check inside the bus after he parked it at the school parking bay. He said that he found the child lying dead behind the door of the bus at the end of the KG1 school day at 11:40am. He denied the charge of negligence.

The school principal admitted that the buses used by the transport company were not licensed by the Department of Transport to ferry students and that seven buses were not up to the mark.

He indicated that the transport company owner informed him that he had obtained an exemption from the DoT to operate these buses. He also disclosed that no official from the school transport authority had come to inspect the roadworthiness of the buses.

The transport company owner denied the charges filed against him and said during investigations that he had supplied 27 buses to the school but admitted not having obtained a licence to use them for school transport.

He also confessed that seven buses, including the one which carried the victim, were not up to specifications and that the school management was aware of that.

He admitted that 10 of the attendants were working with his company but were not under his sponsorship.

Click to read: Abu Dhabi school shut for safety negligence