There are two in Chania children aged 4 and 5 were forgotten on a school bus for approximately five hours — the babies were discovered only about one o’clock in the afternoon after the mother of one of them started looking for the child.
The incident happened on Wednesday September 16in one of the settlements in the interior of Chania. The children attend the preparatory group of the state kindergarten and went there by bus in the morning ΚΤΕΛ Chania–Rethymnon.
– children 4 and 5 years old;
— the bus departed for the route at approximately 07:45;
— children remained in the back seats after the others got out;
— the bus stood closed for about five o’clock;
— the children were discovered only before 13:00;
– there was an accompanying person after the incident fired;
— ΚΤΕΛ confirmed what happened and apologized.
The mother came to school – but the child was not there
According to local publication Zarpanewsthe mother of one of the children raised the alarm. She came to the kindergarten to bring the child lunch – that day he had to stay in the extended day group for the first time.
However, the kindergarten staff informed her that the child didn’t come at all that day. After this, the search began. The driver went to the place where the bus had been parked in the morning, and at about one o’clock in the afternoon he found not only one, but two children.
According to the parents, the kids were in the back seats. After disembarking the remaining children, neither the driver nor the attendant checked the interior thoroughly enough.
“They were wet and crying”
Parents told local journalists that the children they found were very frightened, cried, and during their stay in the locked bus did not even have the opportunity to go to the toilet.
The fact that the children spent about five hours inside the car looks especially difficult. On this day it was cooler in Crete due to rainy weather. One parent asked the obvious question: what would have happened if Chania had experienced the usual September heat on that day?
After the incident, the children, according to their families, don’t want to get on this bus againand parents do not intend to send them to school on it.
ΚΤΕΛ confirmed the incident
President of ΚΤΕΛ Chania-Rethymnon Yannis Kapsanakis confirmed to a local publication that the incident did occur.
According to him, the accompanying person explained that the children fell asleep and that’s why she didn’t notice them. After the incident, she was suspended from work and fired, and another employee was assigned to the route. ΚΤΕΛ also formally apologized to the families.
The Chania Primary Education Authority said it has received preliminary information about the incident and intends to take action within its competence.
Why didn’t anyone check the salon?
The most obvious question remains unanswered: Why, after the end of the morning flight, did no one walk through the bus and make sure that all the children got off? Especially considering that we are talking about preschoolers of four or five years old, who may fall asleep, not hear an adult’s address, or simply not understand that the bus has already arrived.
This is not the first time that the topic of school transport safety has arisen in Greece. Athens News previously reported that during mass inspection of school buses by police revealed more than 200 violations in one day. There is also a separate section for parents roadmap for school, safety and children’s rights in Greece.
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