3-Year-Old Boy, Who Was Left Alone In A School Bus, Found Lifeless. But His Death Could Have Been Prevented

October 16, 2018

There is nothing worse for a parent than to realize that they lost their beloved child, especially if the tragedy happened somewhere, where kids supposed to be safe. You kiss your kid goodbye before it enters the school bus but then they never return. Next morning, a school bus driver, preparing to kick off his working day, finds a child in his bus.

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There are more than 25 million children in the U.S. who use buses on the daily basis. Over the years, there have been reported many incidents when students were forgotten in the school vehicles. In some cases, they were left for multiple hours. Situations like that are very traumatic for children and their parents. Even though they don’t often result in serious harm, there are cases that ended tragically.

Since 2009, bus drivers or aides are required to check the vehicles. Those ten short steps could have prevented no less than 60 students from being left alone on school buses since 2014. Yet not all drivers do that.

A tragedy in France

The world has recently been shocked by the terrible news from France: a 3-year-old boy was forgotten on the bus that was supposed to take him to school.

As reported by Il Messaggero, Medhy fell asleep in a school bus and didn’t get off at school, scheduled for 8 a.m.

No one has noticed the kid’s absence, and 7 hours later, the bus driver found the child lifeless. According to Fort de France prosecution, Little Medhy had been suffering from dehydration for several hours.

The drama took place in the French commune of Rivière Pilote, South of Martinique. The man tried to resuscitate him, but his attempts were useless.

That shouldn't have happened if the bus driver did his job correctly. He should have checked all the seats and make sure everybody left the bus since he didn't really have any other responibilities. You must take care of your vehicle regardless of whether you use it for professional or personal purposes. I am a bus driver as well and we have a special training every 5 years. This is a perfect reminder of safety instructions and is part of your vehicle verification. The driver's behavior and his incompetence are unbearable.
Unfortunately, we have lost another little angel.

You can't let the child rest in peace, and his family mourn without having to mention the tragedy over and over again? It is time to learn from this case to prevent it from happening ever again and move on.

The driver arrived in the morning, as usual, to pick up little Medhy, and the parents expected him to be taken to school.

However, the child must have fallen asleep on the school bus without anyone noticing him. When the driver returned to the vehicle in the afternoon, he found the lifeless little boy in the middle seats.

Public prosecutor René Gaudeul started the investigation soon after the terrible news was officially reported.

It will be necessary to explain how a child who was to be brought to school that morning was left for the entire day inside a bus without anyone noticing.

It seems absurd that no one saw a 3-year-old-child sleeping in a seat! Nothing can now ease the pain of the kid’s parents who lost the little boy forever. Rest in peace, dear Medhy.

How to prevent horrible situations like that?

There are various things that school bus operations can do to ensure that students aren’t forgotten in their vehicles.

make two checkups as a requirement for drivers – one when the trip is over and another one after returning to the depot;
install electronic child-reminder systems;
place a sticker on buses to remind the drivers to check their vehicles for sleeping children.

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Parents should also educate their children on bus safety and make sure they can contact them if the situation like that takes place. All of these measures should be implemented at the same time. Technology is a good helper, but the bus drivers should never forget to check their vehicles on sleeping children.