A six-year-old Indian boy died on Saturday in Dubai after he was left behind on a bus for several hours. The boy has been identified as Mohamed Farhan Faisal, and hails from Muzhappilangad in Kannur district of Kerala, the Khaleej Times reported on Sunday.
Faisal was a student at an Islamic centre in Al Quoz locality. Unidentified family members said that the child had dozed off after boarding the bus from Al Karama, a residential district of Dubai. He was left behind on the bus after all the other students alighted at the centre at 8 am (9.30 am Indian Standard Time).
The Dubai Police said that they were alerted about the incident at 3 pm (4.30 pm IST). The child was found after the driver restarted the bus to drop the students back home, an unidentified police officer said.
The police said the body was shifted to the forensic department at 6 pm (7.30 pm IST) for an autopsy. The cause of death is yet to be determined. The body will be handed over to the family after completion of all legal and administrative procedures, the police added.
Director of Security Media (Dubai Police) Colonel Faisal Al Qasim asked bus drivers and school supervisors to be more vigilant, Gulf News reported. “Dubai police always warn the public and bus drivers about the importance of checking the bus before closing it, especially if it is carrying children,” he said.
The boy, who was the youngest of three children, had joined the centre earlier this year. His father owns multiple businesses in Dubai and Kerala. “I had met the family during a get-together just last week,” a close family member told Khaleej Times. “He was such a bright boy. His parents are in a state of shock.”
In 2014, a student at Abu Dhabi’s Al Worood Academy Private School suffocated to death after being left alone in a bus. Abu Dhabi’s Department of Knowledge and Education then ordered all school buses to be equipped with cameras and sensors that can detect the presence of a child.
In 2018, another student was forgotten inside a school bus for over four hours. However, the child survived the ordeal.
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