Leaders in Thái Bình Province discuss the case. — VNA/VNS Photo

THÁI BÌNH — The woman in charge of picking up children at the Hồng Nhung Kindergarten has been arrested after a five-year-old boy died when he was left on the school bus.

Phương Quỳnh Anh will be questioned by police over the death in Quang Trung Ward, Thái Bình Province.

She was on the bus with a driver carrying 10 children who were dropped off at the school around 6.20am on Wednesday.

The child’s absence in the classroom appears to have gone unnoticed and at the end of the school day, around 5pm, his lifeless body was discovered on the bus.

Major Phan Minh Hoàng, Deputy Head of the Thái Bình City Police Division, said the boy was in the vehicle for a long time in hot weather conditions with no food or water.

He was exhausted and suffered respiratory failure.

"The police on Wednesday night prosecuted the case according to regulations. At the same time, an emergency detention order and an emergency arrest order were issued for the suspects. The orders have been approved by the Thái Bình City People's Procuracy," said Hoàng.

According to a report from the Thái Bình Department of Education and Training (DoET) sent to the Ministry of Education and Training, the Hồng Nhung Kindergarten was established in 2022 and licensed by the municipal DoET.

The child's mother is working abroad and the boy lives with his grandmother.

In August 2019, a similar incident took place at the Gateway International School in Cầu Giấy District, Hà Nội when a first-grade student died on the school bus.

On August 11, 2020, the Hà Nội People's Court sentenced the person in charge of picking up students from home to school to 21 months in prison and the driver to 10 months in prison for the crime of "accidentally causing death".

A teacher received 12-month suspended sentence for "lack of responsibility causing serious consequences".

In 2020, there were also two cases of students being left on school buses in Hà Nội. In June, a fourth-grade boy at the Nam Từ Liêm Primary School was left on the school bus but he woke up, banged on the door and freed.

In September, a third-grade student at the Đoàn Thị Điểm Primary School also got trapped on the bus, but was able to escape as the school had instructed pupils how to free themselves.

In June last year, a first-grade student at the Archimedes Primary School in Cầu Giấy District was on a field trip when he too was left on the bus but the school quickly realised the child was missing.— VNS