A five-year-old girl smashed the window of a New York City school bus after being trapped in the bus for hours after the driver abandoned her.
Queen resident Mahtabul Bhuiyan said this WABC His daughter was picked up by a private van around 7am on Thursday to be taken to Al-Ihsan Academy in South Ozone Park.
However, the driver forgot to check if there were any students in the car after dropping the children off and drove 10 minutes to Richmond Hill for a doctor’s appointment, trapping the sleeping toddler in the process.
The little girl was scared when she woke up, but she was able to break one of the windows with her hard-soled shoes and give her father’s phone number to a stranger who called for help.
‘It was 82 degrees outside yesterday. And the minivan had the windows all the way down. From 7 [a.m.] until 10:30 [a.m.]. So she could have died. She could have died,” Bhuiyan said PIX11.
A five-year-old girl (pictured) was trapped in her school bus on Thursday after she was picked up to be taken to Al-Ihsan Academy and fell asleep
The toddler was able to break one of the windows with her hard-soled shoes (see photo)
“Stuck in that minivan for three hours. And she’s not unconscious. I’m really proud of her because she was really brave. I can’t imagine how she handled that situation.”
The father said his daughter became hot while locked in the van, began to take off her uniform and drank her entire water bottle.
According to AccWeather, the highest temperature in New York City on Thursday was 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
“The bus was completely dark, no one could see from outside, tinted. She opened her dress and drank water, she drank all the water because of the high heat inside. She could have died inside,” Bhuiyan said.
Al-Ihsan Academy is a private Islamic school that charges $6,250 per year for grades K-8. Included in the fee is private transportation provided by the school, which costs $175 per student per month.
The driver of the school van, a man named Faruk, told PIX11 he forgot to check the backseat.
Her father Mahtabul Bhuiyan (pictured) said his daughter felt hot when she was stuck in the van, so she started taking off her uniform and drank the entire water bottle.
Al-Ihsan Academy (pictured) is a private Islamic school in South Ozone Park, where students in grades 1 through 8 pay $6,250 annually.
‘No, no. I don’t know. Because she was asleep,’ he said. ‘Yes, it was a mistake. A mistake. Inshallah. I will do it, inshallah. Sometimes I forget, sometimes. Do you understand?’
The school said in a statement that the incident was “unfortunate” and offered its support to parents.
“This unfortunate incident saddens us deeply. The driver has been suspended. We have spoken to the parents and will continue to support them,” Al-Ihsan Academy said.
According to the U.S. government, an average of 37 children under the age of 15 die each year from heatstroke after being left in a vehicle. National Security Council.
So far in 2024, 32 deaths have been reported and more than 1,000 children have died in these incidents over the past three decades.