Kindergarten employee arrested after 5-year-old boy left to die on school bus

Phuong Quynh Anh was chosen by the Hong Nhung 2 kindergarten in Thai Binh Province to monitor students being transported between the school and their homes on a 29-seat bus, the provincial police said Thursday.

At 6:20 a.m., Quynh Anh, along with driver Nguyen Van Lam, took 5-year-old Gia Huy to school on the school bus. Upon getting on the bus, Huy sat right behind the driving seat in a conscious state.

However, at 5:30 p.m. the same day, when Huy's uncle came to the school to get him home, Huy was nowhere to be found.

Only then did people discover that Huy was still left on the school bus. He was rushed to hospital but declared dead upon arrival.

The police said Huy had stayed on the bus for 11 hours under the heat of the sun. As a result, Huy suffered from respiratory failure due to the heat and the lack of food.

A report by the Thai Binh Department of Education and Training said the Hong Nhung kindergarten is a private facility established in 2022. It has 12 classes with 272 kids.

The school checks students' attendance through a mobile application. When a student is not present, the teacher is supposed to inform parents about it via the application, as well as calling the parents. However, when Huy did not enter class, his family did not receive any such notification from the school.

Thai Binh experienced intense heat on Wednesday, with temperatures around 35 degrees Celsius.

Huy was supposed to attend the school's closing ceremony that day, before the summer break.

According to local authorities, Huy's parents had separated and his mother works abroad. The boy was staying with his grandmother while his uncle lives nearby.

In 2019, in a similar incident in Hanoi, a six-year-old boy died after being left on a school bus.

The driver, student supervisor and a teacher were sent to jail for involuntary manslaughter and negligence causing serious consequences.