The driver of the private school van inside which a six-year-old girl student of International Indian School in Dammam (IISD) was found dead during school hours Sunday has been detained on charges of criminal negligence. Fida Haris, an Upper Kindergarten student, apparently died of suffocation and heat after she was left locked inside the private school van. The driver, Noushad, from Kannoor district in the southern Indian state of Kerala, surrendered to Dhahran Police, according to police sources. He is still in custody and has been transferred to the Khobar Police station for investigations. Meanwhile, at a special meeting held Monday, the school decided to require kindergarten teachers to contact the parents of students who are absent from school to ensure that children are not left unattended, said IISD Principal Dr. E.K.Mohammed Shaffe. “We have decided to require our safety inspectors to check the vehicles which are parked near our premises. We are also thinking of increasing the school coaster service so as to control private vehicle drivers,” said School Managing Committee Chairman John Thomas. He, however, said that it was impossible to control the more than 600 private vehicles being used for school transportation by parents. “School authorities have no connection with the drivers of these vehicles,” he said. In a circular issued Monday, the school asked parents to ensure that private van drivers drop their children at the school gates and take other safety measures. The private van inside which Fida Haris was found dead was parked near Gate 4 of the school. But no one noticed the little girl's struggle for life as the windows of the van were tinted. Fida's grandfather blamed the driver of the van for the tragedy. After dropping senior grade girl students, only three kindergarten students – including Fida – were left inside the van, but the driver did not bother to make sure that all three students had got down at the school gate, said the grandfather. “A locked vehicle under the sun is like an oven” says Dr. Akbar, Chief Pediatrician of Badr Al-Rabea Dispensary. He said that the lack of air circulation inside the locked vehicle created a buildup of carbon dioxide which led to the suffocation of the child. This is the reason the child turned blue, he said. “Children are more dependent on water and are less capable of resisting heat than adults. The lack of oxygen, build up of carbon dioxide and excessive heat created a greenhouse effect. The child died from suffocation and excessive heat,” Dr. Akbar said. Fida's funeral prayers will be held Tuesday at Rayyan Mosque after Asr. This is the second incident of its kind in two years. Fortunately, in the first case, the child was seen locked inside the school bus and was rescued. Since then school authorities have authorized four people to check all school buses to ensure that no child is left behind. But no such measures are taken in private vehicles.
