A criminal investigation will look into the death of a six-year-old pupil who died after he was left alone on a school bus for nine hours, local media reported.Le Hoang Long, a first-grader at Gateway International School in Hanoi’s Cau Giay district, died on his second day of school on August 6.
A bus of Gateway International School in Hanoi picks up pupils. Photo: Pham Hung
|
A medical examination showed the boy had died before arriving at the hospital, Cau Giay district police said at a press briefing on August 7. The cause of the death was not revealed.
The incident has ignited anger among the public in Vietnam over the school's carelessness. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has ordered a thorough investigation to find out the cause of the boy's death.
Long is an only child. His family, who only learned of his absence from school in the afternoon, agreed to conduct an autopsy to identify the time and cause of the death, the police said.
"When we went to the school, we received evasive answers from the teacher," said Le Van Son, the boy's father.
"When we tried to find our child, the school said he had overslept in the bus and had been admitted to hospital. When we reached there, our child was already dead."
Tran Thi Hong Hanh, chairwoman of Gateway School, says sorry to Long's father. Photo: Chung Dang
|
"Based on initial testimonies, we've concluded that there are signs of involuntary manslaughter. The death will for sure involve Quy," Lieutenant Colonel Tran Van Hoa, deputy chief of Cau Giay district police, said at the press briefing.
Long got on the school bus at 7:00 am on August 6. Teachers said he sat in the last row of the 16-seat van, which was carrying 13 pupils on Tuesday morning.
When the bus arrived at school, the children got out of the bus but for unknown reasons, Long was allegedly forgotten in the van.
Hanoi's temperatures on Tuesday were between 26 and 34 degrees Celsius. If left in a car, a child’s body temperature will rise three to five times faster than an adult’s.
Tran Thi Hong Hanh, chairwoman of Gateway, said the school will take full responsibility and is checking security cameras to find out what happened.
Police are continuing their investigation.
