New Delhi: In Qatar, Al Wakra, a four-year-old girl from a Doha-based Malayali family, died on Sunday after being locked in a school bus for several hours. Kindergartner Minsa Maryam Jacob attends Springfield Kindergarten Al Waqarah. According to family sources in Kerala, she allegedly boarded the school bus on Sunday morning, but fainted on the way to kindergarten.
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The bus crew is alleged to have taken her to a parking area while Minasa was sleeping inside, and then locked herself in. In the afternoon, when the bus team reached to take the children home, she was found in an unconscious state. Despite being taken to the hospital, Meena could not be saved. According to family sources in Kerala, prima facie it appeared that the girl died of suffocation in the heat.
Minasa’s parents, Abhilash Chacko and Soumya, are employed in Qatar and are from Changanassery in the Kottayam region of Kerala. The migrants’ unions have made arrangements to take the body back to Kerala.
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Doha condoled the student’s passing and stressed that it would not accept any lapses in student safety, announcing an investigation into the incident.
“The Ministry reaffirms its keenness to adhere to the highest quality of safety and security standards for its students, and will not tolerate any deficiency in this regard. It expresses its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased student,” the ministry tweeted.
As per the findings of the ongoing investigation, the ministry stressed that the authorities will take all necessary steps and guarantee the harshest punishment against the guilty.