Toddler and aunt hit by school bus in Sharjah

Sharjah: A doctor has said a one-and-a-half-year-old girl who was hit by a bus last week will need time to walk again.

The girl and her aunt were struck by a school bus and became caught under its wheels as they walked to the local shop in Al Ta'awun, a police official told Gulf News on Sunday.

The pair were hit around 1.30pm on Monday when the school bus was taking pupils home, the official said.

They were admitted to the intensive care unit of Al Qasimi Hospital, he added.

Little Lamar Tawfiq Mahfoudh, from Lebanon, sustained serious fractures to her hip and other parts of her body. Her distressed mother has held a bedside vigil for her daughter at the ICU, praying for her to be well.

She told Gulf News she had been at work at the time of the incident. "My daughter was crying all night. She is suffering," she said. Lamar's father told Gulf News his daughter had been hit by a bus from Al Zahra private school.

He said: "The bus driver was speeding along a narrow road. Lamar went down with my sister to buy some items from the nearest supermarket."

Both of them were hit by the speeding bus, he said. The driver failed to stop and people in the area were running after him and screaming to stop him, he said.

The 30-year-old aunt, Gana Mahfoudh, who was visiting the family, sustained minor injuries including a fractured hand. She described the accident to Gulf News.

‘Looking for my niece'

"We were walking to the supermarket. The school bus was dropping some students to their homes. The area is sandy and cars from the surrounding buildings were parked in that area. The bus was having difficulty moving in this narrow place," she said.

Gana said she could not believe she was still alive after being knocked down.

"I did not care about myself after the bus hit us. We fell under the wheels of the bus, and I was frantically looking for my niece.

"We were stuck in the sand under the bus wheels and I tried to put sand around her to protect her before the second tyre crossed above us."

Lamar was later taken to Saqr Hospital in Ras Al Khaimah for treatment.

It is expected to take around six weeks for the fractures to heal, but not to walk; she will need more time for walking, said Dr Tarek Mahdi.

An investigation has been launched by police and the driver of the bus has been taken into custody.