On Sunday, an 8-year-old child passed away in Saudi Arabia due to the country's scorching heat after he fell asleep on a school bus.
According to Al Mouwaten, Abdulaziz Al-Muslim was reportedly excited to go to school and hopped on the bus at 6 a.m. as usual. As he was sleeping, everyone got off the bus and the driver locked the vehicle without checking if he had left anyone behind.
Due to excessive heat and lack of oxygen, Al-Muslim suffocated in his sleep. He was then discovered and transferred to a local hospital in Saihat at around noon but passed away five minutes after reaching the building, Twasul reported.
Not the first time Abdulaziz Al-Muslim was left behind on the bus
Local news websites spoke to both the parents and uncle of the victim, who explained how the same unfortunate incident had happened to young Abdulaziz Al-Muslim before.
Unfortunately, the horrific incident took the boy's life this time.
"This is the second time the driver forgets my kid in the bus. Last time it was winter, and so the weather was more bearable," Al-Muslim's mother said, according to Al Mowaten.
Riad Al-Ghanem, the victim's uncle, questioned how such an incident could have happened twice - both last year and now - and how a bus driver could have possibly neglected a student in such a manner.
Following the news of the tragedy, an urgent meeting was set up by Saudi Arabia's Minister of Education to discuss the safety of the students.
The official spokesperson of the kingdom's Ministry of Education, Moubarak Al-Osaimi, took to Twitter to summarize the meeting's key points.
"The ministry, school, traffic authorities, and those in charge of protecting students from all harm should be responsible for such incidents. A full report will be out today, detailing what the meeting resulted in," Al-Osaimi said in his tweet.
Twitter users across the kingdom are outraged by the news, holding the bus driver, school, and ministry responsible for this tragic case of negligence.
Some posted solutions
"This is not the first time such an incident happens. There should be an attendance sheet with the names of all students on the bus."