Dubai: Indian girl dies after being left in school bus

In a tragic incident, a four-year old Indian girl died apparently of heat and asphyxiation after she was mistakenly left in a locked school bus for over four hours in Qatar.

The incident happened when the bus driver parked the vehicle and took the children to their school, failing to ensure that they all got off on reaching their destination. The victim identified as Sarah Gazdhar, a KG-1 student of Delhi Public School in Doha, apparently died of heat and asphyxiation after being left alone inside the bus, the Gulf Times daily said.

Sarah, whose family hails from Jodhpur, had joined the school last month.

According to a school official, the incident happened on Monday when the child had boarded the bus belonging to a transport company from her house. The official said a teacher, who travels on the same bus and who used to help Sarah, was absent on the tragic day.

After dropping the children, the driver took the bus back, without realising that the young girl did not get off at the school. When her mother went to pick Sarah, she was told that she had not been to class. Sarah was eventually found in the bus and was rushed to the hospital where she was declared dead. The minibus driver has been arrested.