Driver detained in Saudi child's bus death

Manama: A cascade of failures has the resulted in the death of a young student on the school bus, a preliminary investigation has indicated.

Abdul Malak Awadh was forgotten inside the bus as his other students got off for their school day and left him asleep. The driver did not notice that the five-year-old as he parked the bus under the scorching heat in the Red Sea city of Jeddah in western Saudi Arabia and wait for the end of the school day.

Abdul Malak was found unconscious by the driver as he was picking up the students to drive them home.

According to the initial investigation, the driver was guilty of gross negligence for not noticing the child was sleeping as the other students got off and as he was parking the bus for the rest of the school day, Saudi daily Al Madinah reported on Wednesday.

The probe also indicated the absence of a chaperone on the bus to accompany the children on their way to school in the morning and on their way home in the afternoon.

Another failure highlighted by the investigators was the lack of communication between the school and parents over possible absences or tardiness. The family reportedly thought their son was inside his classroom with his mates and the school thought that Abdul Malak did not report to class on that day.

A spokesperson for the Makkah Region said that the investigation into the death of Abdul Malak on the bus was launched following a report to the police station.

"The driver, an expatriate from an Asian country, saw the boy unconscious inside the bus," Ati Al Qarshi said. "The lifeless body was taken to the hospital while the driver was detained ahead of referring him to the competent authorities," he said.

Abdul Malak’s father and uncle on Monday said the school was responsible for the tragic death.

“My nephew did not suffer from any ailment or health issue when he got on the bus with his classmates to go to school,” Yahya Al Awadh, the boy's uncle, told Saudi daily Okaz.

“When he hadn’t come home at the end of the school day, his father became worried and tried to contact the school, but no one answered him. He later received a phone call from the school administration informing him that his son was sick. He went there with his wife and both had the shock of their lives when they heard that their only son was dead. They felt devastated."

The uncle said the family was puzzled over the absence of a chaperone to accompany the young students on the bus to and from school.

The family was also shocked that the school had failed to contact them to ask about the reason their son did not attend classes on that fateful day, he added.

The head of the education district in Makkah Province, Abdullah Al Thaqafi, said the bus inside which Abdul Malak died belonged to a private transport company sub-contracted by the school.