Reckless driving: Grade 9 student dies after falling from bus

LAHORE:

A child died after a bus ran over him while he was trying to board it on Friday. Ajmal Munir, the driver and the conductor of the bus have been arrested.

The Faisal Town investigation in-charge told The Express Tribune that Shahzaib, a student of grade 9, was trying to board a bus at Akbar Chowk after school. The driver started the bus while Shahzaib was in the doorway and he lost his balance and fell. People in the area rushed the child to a hospital where he succumbed to injuries.

Model Town Investigations SP Rizwan Khan told The Express Tribune that the driver and conductor of the bus had been arrested. “We have registered an FIR against them under Section 322 of PPC (causing death without motive).”

Scores of people in the area gathered to protest against the bus driver. They smashed the windows of the bus and tried to set it alight. However, a police team arrived at the scene and tried to placate them and stopped them from burning down the vehicle.

Shabbir Khan, one of the people in the area, told The Express Tribune that the driver should have been careful. “It was right after schools closed for the day and usually students boarded the bus at the stop every day...the driver should have been careful,” he said.

Khan said that the authorities must place checks on public transport drivers. “We cannot allow such incidents to take place.”

He said students must also be taught road safety and how to board a bus safely.

Khadim Ali, one of Shahzaib’s relatives, said that he used to travel to school in a rickshaw. “This was the first time he ever took a bus to school...he never came back.” He said the boy’s mother had gone into shock.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2015.