A school trip to a shopping mall ended in tragedy Tuesday when a seven-year-old pupil was killed on a mini-train ride at the mall's amusements center. Sixty pupils and three teachers from Bilal Bin Rabah Primary School were on the outing to the south Jeddah shopping center and were riding the “water train” when Muhammad Al-Hakami fell and trapped his neck between electric track fittings connecting the carriages, cutting off his oxygen supply. Teachers and mall staff struggled in vain to free the child but by the time Civil Defense officials arrived Muhammad had passed away. The site was immediately closed as authorities launched an investigation into the death. Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah, Minister of Education, was among the first to offer his condolences to the Al-Hakami family and promised that a “complete and thorough investigation” would be carried out to identify the cause and any persons responsible. “School trips are only organized once parents have given permission and the necessary precautions have been taken to ensure pupils' safety,” the minister said.
