SHOCKING! Four-year-old girl dies after getting LOCKED in school bus

Minsa Mariyam Jacob was making her way to kindergarten when she fell asleep. The bus staff allegedly closed the bus, took it to the parking lot, and then left without realising she was sleeping inside.

Image Credit: File Photo; Representational purpose only

New Delhi: In Qatar, Al Wakrah, a four-year-old girl from a Malayali family who lives in Doha passed away on Sunday after being left confined inside a school bus for several hours. Kindergartener Minsa Mariyam Jacob attended Springfield Kindergarten Al Wakrah. She reportedly boarded the school bus on Sunday morning but passed out on the route to the kindergarten, according to family sources in Kerala.

The bus' crew is accused of locking it as Minsa slept inside, moving it to a parking area, and then disengaging themselves. When the bus crew arrived at midday to transport the kids home, she was discovered to be unconscious. Despite being rushed to a hospital, Minsa was not able to be saved. According to family sources in Kerala, the girl seemed to have died of heat suffocation at first glance.

Abhilash Chacko and Soumya, Minsa's parents, are employed in Qatar and are from Changanassery in the Kottayam region of Kerala. Associations of expatriates have made arrangements to fly the body back to Kerala.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Doha, expressed condolences for the student's passing and stressed it would not accept any lapses in student safety while announcing an investigation into the incident.

“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.

According to the findings of the ongoing inquiry, the ministry stressed, that the authorities would take all necessary steps and guarantee the harshest penalties possible against those guilty.