Police have begun a criminal investigation into the death of a five-year-old boy who was left for some 11 hours inside the school bus of a preschool amid 40-degree-Celsius heat in Thai Binh Province, northern Vietnam on Wednesday. 

On Wednesday evening, police officers issued a decision to start legal proceedings in the 'involuntary manslaughter' case that occurred earlier on the same day at Hong Nhung 2 Preschool in Thai Binh City, the capital of the namesake province.

According to initial reports, P.Q.A., a teacher at the preschool, and N.V.L., 59, the driver of the school bus, were tasked with picking up the boy, T.G.H., and nine other preschoolers at 6:20 am on Wednesday and transporting them to the school.

Upon arriving at the school, L. opened the door, allowing the teacher and students to get off and proceed to their classrooms.

The driver then parked the vehicle at the school gate and left.

After checking student attendance by taking their photos and sending them to the school’s software for management purposes, the teacher responsible for the class detected H.'s absence but she did not notify his family.

At about 5:00 pm on the same day, H.’s uncle came to the school to pick up H. but the teacher informed him that the boy had not attended school that day.

H.’s relative then joined the school’s staff to search for the boy and eventually found him remaining inside the school bus, which means the boy had been left forgotten in the vehicle for about 11 hours amid the outdoor temperature of up to nearly 40 degrees Celsius in Thai Binh that day. 

As the bus key was not available at that time, H.’s uncle and local residents broke the door open to get H. out in a critical condition.

H. was immediately brought to Thai Binh General Hospital for emergency treatment, but doctors said the boy had passed away before hospitalization.

As his mother is working abroad in a labor export program, the boy had stayed with his grandmother and uncle before the tragic incident, according to local authorities.

Nguyen Khac Than, chairman of the Thai Binh administration, convened an urgent meeting on Wednesday evening with local police and other agencies, urging them to promptly probe into the case and clarify the responsibilities of all those who were involved in the death.  

Than directed a review and rectification of the student transport processes of all preschools in the province to ensure safety for students.

The chairman also asked local authorities to visit and support the victim’s family.   

Five years ago, a similar tragic incident occurred in Hanoi on August 6, 2019, when a six-year-old boy at Gateway International School died after being left on the school bus. 

The school’s student transport supervisor and the bus driver were sentenced to 24 months and 15 months in prison, respectively, for ‘involuntary manslaughter,’ while the homeroom teacher of the victim got 12 months for 'irresponsibility that led to serious consequences.'

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