4-Year-Old Girl Dies On Her Birthday After Getting Locked Inside School Bus For Hours

A 4-year-old girl has been reported dead on her birthday after she was allegedly left alone in a locked school bus for several hours in Al Wakrah in Qatar on Sunday, Sept. 11.

The deceased girl, identified as 4-year-old Minsa Mariyam Jacob, a kindergarten student at Springfield Kindergarten Al Wakrah, reportedly boarded the school bus on Sunday morning, Sept. 11. However, the girl reportedly dozed off on her way to the kindergarten.

After dropping off the other children at the school, the vehicle crew allegedly locked the bus, moved it to the parking lot, and left for hours without realizing that Minsa was sleeping inside the bus, Indian Express reported.

Several hours later, when the driver and attendant returned to the vehicle in order to pickup the kids from the kindergarten and drop them back home, they found the girl unconscious inside the bus. Even though the little girl was rushed to a nearby hospital for immediate treatment, her life could not be saved.

The air-conditioner in the bus was switched off in the morning after the other children exited, and the temperature in Qatar on the day of the incident was between 36 and 43°C.

According to the deceased girl's family, it seemed like the child suffocated to death in the heat. The tragic incident reportedly happened on the deceased girl's birthday, the Times Of India reported.

"The ministry of education and higher education mourns the death of a kindergarten student at a private school. The ministry, in co-operation with the respective authorities, has started an investigation into the incident," the ministry of education and higher education of Qatar tweeted following the incident.

The ministry also said that it would not tolerate any shortcomings with regard to the safety of students and 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.

The deceased girl's father, Abhilash Chacko, who hails from Kerala, India, has been working as a graphic designer in Qatar for over a decade. Minsa is the youngest of the couple's two daughters. Minsa's older sister, Mikham, is a Class II student. The deceased girl's family plans to bring her body back to India for her final rites.