Girl, 3, suffocates in Pattani school van

[webfact]

Girl, 3, suffocates in Pattani school van

By The Nation

 

Picture: Channel 3//Krobkruakao

 

Pattani police on Thursday charged a school van driver after a three-year-old girl was forgotten in the locked vehicle at a Pattani school and died of suffocation.

 

Ahama Saro-Eng, 23, was summoned by police on Thursday morning to face a charge of negligence causing death after Nuranadia Ma of the Bamrung Muslim School was found dead in the school van on Wednesday evening.

 

The van belonged to Ahama and his wife, who is an assistant teacher at the school, according to the police.

 

The couple normally picked up children from their homes in the morning, drove them to school and left the van at the school and returned them to their homes at the end of the day.

 

But on Wednesday, Ahama said, he drove alone and locked the van without checking and rode his motorcycle home.

 

The girl's mother went to the school to pick up her daughter early but the teacher said Nuranadia did not come to school.

 

They found her body lying on the van's floor in dirty school uniforms with blood coming from her nose.

 

Doctors at Sai Buri district hospital said she died of suffocation.

 

Police believe the girl was asleep while the other children got out of the van and the driver did not check as his wife normally saw them off.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30352289

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-08-16

[KhunBENQ]

Hard to keep words under control...

The girl must have died a terrible way.

 

Negligent homicide, in Germany up to 5 years imprisonment.

 

Thailand: a wai and pay for the funeral?

 

Second such case over the years read in the forum.

Edited August 16, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[colinneil]

Poor little girl, died because of a bloody selfish uncaring man, could not be bothered to check that all the children were out of the van.

The bar steward wants strung up, he should be charged with negligent homicide.

R.I.P. little angel, so young , so tragic.

[kotsak]

I'm beyond words, this thing happens so often that it would be expected by now all personnel involved with childcare to be aware and informed on how to avoid such fatal mistakes. But then again I remind myself that TIT and nothing ever changes. ?

 

RIP ?

 

[sammieuk1]

There must have been more than 10 kids on the van to start with and he ran out of fingers counting them off manslaughter no question ?

[worgeordie]

With this happening so many times before,and been a school bus

driver,he must  have heard about them,there is no excuse for him

to be negligent ,and he is going to have to live with it the rest of 

his life. RIP little one.

regards Worgeordie

[mok199]

simply a tradgedy  ...but I am filled with rage at the driver...

[Denim]

This has happened so often that mere words and punishment will not suffice since neither address human negligence.

 

Those wishing to operate a school service but should provide a purpose built song taew ( pick up truck with seats ) with a safety door on the rear step and a speed limiter.. Not a perfect solution but at least no more deaths from slow roasting suffocation.

 

Mini vans should be banned from providing this service.

[Darcula]

You had one job, Somchai.

[from the home of CC]

RIP little one

[richard_smith237]

As a one-off this news is sickening and heartbreaking - the overwhelming level of carelessness is mind-boogling.

 

Yet, after having read of 3 or 4 such incidents over the past couple of years it is clear that this not an isolated which instead induces great anger at those responsible. 

 

That this and many more tragic incidents which are the direct cause of nothing more than pure carelessness and stupidity continue to occur is a damning testament to those in positions of decision making power who could impose far greater penalties for those whose actions result in grave circumstances after proving themselves careless in the extreme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

7 hours ago, Denim said:

This has happened so often that mere words and punishment will not suffice since neither address human negligence.

 

Those wishing to operate a school service but should provide a purpose built song taew ( pick up truck with seats ) with a safety door on the rear step and a speed limiter.. Not a perfect solution but at least no more deaths from slow roasting suffocation.

 

Mini vans should be banned from providing this service.

 

On the road, Mini-vans are more safe... one risk would be swapped for another... Another suggestion could equally be to remove the widows - but none of these are real solutions as the issue is not the type of vehicle used, but the carelessness of driver..... Unfortunately these are positions usually filled by the equivalent of the village idiot - which is quite frightening when placing the trust and safety of children in their hands. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[chickenslegs]

Quite obviously, the van driver is at fault, but not solely.

 

If a child is missing when the teacher takes roll call, surely the teacher/school admin should investigate. Just a phone call to the parents would have averted this tragedy.

 

We send our grandaughter to school every day in the minibus. We place our trust in the drivers and teachers to keep her safe. I am absolutely sickened to read (again and again) about these completely avoidable tragedies.

[richard_smith237]

6 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

Quite obviously, the van driver is at fault, but not solely.

 

If a child is missing when the teacher takes roll call, surely the teacher/school admin should investigate. Just a phone call to the parents would have averted this tragedy.

 

We send our grandaughter to school every day in the minibus. We place our trust in the drivers and teachers to keep her safe. I am absolutely sickened to read (again and again) about these completely avoidable tragedies.

 

Good point - the school / teachers are also complicit here as they must be well aware that such tragedies have occurred in the past with heart breaking frequency... It would be extremely easy to put in place a simple protocol whereby if a child has not turned up in class the parents are given a call and the absence investigated.

 

Additional safety measures would also mitigate against such tragedies, such as one person (a teacher on 'gate duty') doing a final check of all vans etc before class starts. 

 

Of course, this is very much 'closing the stable door after the horse has bolted', however, this is Thailand and there are always numerous 'other horses, ready to bolt', thus, any mitigation measures could be put in place to learn from the mistakes of the past and prevent future tragedy. Of course, this would only work if the mitigation measures were not simply media lip service by some politician announcing a 'crack down' on school transport etc and instead some 'real' measures were taken, especially by those ultimately responsible such as the school head / director. 

 

 

 

[peperobi]

The sense of responsibility is absolutely missing.

[smew]

Idiot driver basically saying not my fault it was my wife’s job so he is blaming his absentee wife.

Idiots all around without any common sense !

[highonthai]

Very tragic for sure,

But, Somethings not quite right.

Suffocation? How did she suffocate in the van? Dirty school uniform? Bloody nose?

He decided to ride his motorcycle home? I thought that his wife had to drive the students to school in the morning?

[fullcave]

No safety belts in the school children transport vehicle either. Should be charged with second degree murder. 

[falang1969]

My 3 year old is currently in the UK and has been attending "Summer School", held in a local Primary school, I was really impressed with the level of care and checking done for her welfare while she was there, everything seemed so safe and secure! My wife (Thai) was impressed.

 

We head back to Thailand soon for her to attend school and hearing stuff like this scares the s**t out of me! 

 

Why not have processes in place, to ensure simple things like this, simply can't happen?  

 

 

[Aussieroaming]

RIP little one

[shaurene]

This is just sickening. Over the last couple of years I am sure there have been 4-5 similar deaths of young children being left in vehicles. And still the schools and authorities have done nothing to prevent it. 

I mentioned in 2 other deaths that it is so easy to help prevent this sort of thing. One not so long ago, the teacher was picking kids up and she left a young child in the passenger seat, next to her. She, the teacher got out of the car and opened the tail gate to let the other children out and then locked the car leaving the child in the pasenger seat. At the end of the day she left to go home and the child was dead in her car.

They should have a board clip with all the names of the children they pick up and have the kids line up out of the vehicle and tick the names off, so bloody easy. 

Poor little thing. Made me cry again. If I was the father I am afraid I would take it in my own hands and be willing to go to jail 

RIP little one.

 

[Aupee]

18 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Hard to keep words under control...

The girl must have died a terrible way.

 

Negligent homicide, in Germany up to 5 years imprisonment.

 

Thailand: a wai and pay for the funeral?

 

Second such case over the years read in the forum.

No second one in the last two months. A teacher picked up a child took her to school and forgot her until she unlocked the car to go home in the afternoon

[CanterbrigianBangkoker]

Appalling. The precise reason why I never let my daughter be involved in any kind of school bus service in Thailand, you just can't trust the people of this country to act with sufficient competence in so many situations, it seems. Something that should be discussed more among Thais I feel, to bring about some kind of positive change.

 

This is just the latest of so many similar cases and I find it hard to fathom; how this guy felt he didn't have a responsibility to check the van as # 1) it's his <deleted> job - and thus HE was entrusted with the safety and well-being of the children in his care and # 2) in light of the fact that - surely Thais must be aware of the long list of similar tragic deaths of children due to negligence on the part of <deleted> adults that have been in the news throughout my time in Thailand? You'd think someone doing this job would do his/her utmost to not add another fatality to the list.

 

It really does bring a tear to my eye that an innocent little girl had to endure what must have been an excruciating death all for one man's lack of care and competence. It beggars belief, even for Thailand. He deserves the full manslaughter charge and appropriate sentencing I'm afraid to say, his real penalty will be living with the guilt of taking the life of a child, but justice must prevail and he must be punished. Whether he will be though is another story. What the relevant (and most likely <deleted>) authorities must enact now is some kind of safeguard to ensure this doesn't happen again, but then I suppose it's hard to guard against an individual's idiocy - maybe a new part time position should be created - so that a third party is present to ensure EVERY child gets off these vans/minibuses..?

 

Tragically sad. RIP to the poor little one and my heart certainly goes out to what must be a distraught family.

 

   

[hotchilli]

Oh dear god, I was hoping never to have to read of another tragedy in Thailand like this again.. but people just never learn !!!

It should be mandatory for all school bus/van drivers to physically check the entire vehicle before locking/leaving it un-attended for any period of time!!

This has to stop !!

[NextStationBangkok]

I have seen number of parked vans at schools often keep their doors open for a while.

Also they have a person(Pee Cha), who personally checks each van that come to drop kids.

 

The sad news should not continue further.....

[Bangkok Barry]

9 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

Quite obviously, the van driver is at fault, but not solely.

 

If a child is missing when the teacher takes roll call, surely the teacher/school admin should investigate. Just a phone call to the parents would have averted this tragedy.

 

We send our grandaughter to school every day in the minibus. We place our trust in the drivers and teachers to keep her safe. I am absolutely sickened to read (again and again) about these completely avoidable tragedies.

 

It's interesting too that in every one of these cases none of the other children in the van ever wakes the child and tells them they've arrived. Only interested in themselves, at such a young age. I would certainly have nudged my friend awake if it had happened when I was a kid. Why not?

And why was a three-year old being taken to school anyway? What age do kids start school in Thailand?

[maximillian]

17 hours ago, worgeordie said:

With this happening so many times before,and been a school bus

driver,he must  have heard about them,there is no excuse for him

to be negligent ,and he is going to have to live with it the rest of his life.

RIP little one.

regards Worgeordie

"...and he is going to have to live with it the rest of his life."

 

He is Thai, it doesn't make a difference to him.

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, shaurene said:

They should have a board clip with all the names of the children they pick up and have the kids line up out of the vehicle and tick the names off, so bloody easy. 

 

Even easier just to LOOK in the vehicle. That's not too difficult. Unless you're Thai, it seems.

[elektrified]

18 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Hard to keep words under control...

The girl must have died a terrible way.

 

Negligent homicide, in Germany up to 5 years imprisonment.

 

Thailand: a wai and pay for the funeral?

 

Second such case over the years read in the forum.

Maybe the 2nd such case reported on the forum, but if you watch the Thai news you would know that this is about the 7th identical such case in perhaps 2.5 years. 

[elektrified]

2 hours ago, highonthai said:

Very tragic for sure,

But, Somethings not quite right.

Suffocation? How did she suffocate in the van? Dirty school uniform? Bloody nose?

He decided to ride his motorcycle home? I thought that his wife had to drive the students to school in the morning?

All the windows closed for 8 hours in the heat. The husband drove them alone that day and did not count heads when the children exited the van.