Locked inside school bus, four-year-old from Kerala dies in Doha
Minsa Mariyam Jacob had dozed off on her way to kindergarten. Not realising that she was sleeping in the bus, the vehicle crew allegedly locked the bus, moved it to the parking lot and left.
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Minsa Mariyam Jacob was a kindergarten student at Springfield Kindergarten Al Wakrah. (IE Malayalam)A four-year-old girl from a Malayali family based in Doha died on Sunday after she was left locked inside a school bus for hours at Al Wakrah in Qatar.
Minsa Mariyam Jacob was a kindergarten student at Springfield Kindergarten Al Wakrah. According to family sources in Kerala, she reportedly boarded the school bus on Sunday morning but dozed off on her way to the kindergarten. Not realising that Minsa was sleeping in the bus, the vehicle crew allegedly locked the bus, moved it to the parking lot and left. She was found unconscious at noon when the bus crew returned to ferry the children back home. Minsa was rushed to a hospital but could not be saved. Prima facie, it seems like the girl suffocated to death in the heat, family sources in Kerala said.
Minsa’s parents Abhilash Chacko and Soumya, who hail from Changanassery in Kerala’s Kottayam district, are employed in Qatar. Expatriates’ associations in Doha have taken steps to fly the body back to Kerala.
Announcing a probe into the incident, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Doha, condoled the death of the student and said it would not tolerate any shortcomings with regard to safety of students.
“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.
The ministry added that the authorities will take all the necessary measures and ensure maximum punishment against those responsible according to the results of the ongoing investigation.
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