Tragic! 18-month-old pupil knocked to death by school bus
An 18-month-old toddler, Memunat Lamidi’s tragic death within her school premises has left her family in a devastating state of anguish.
Memunat had, last Thursday, resumed at the crèche section of Bessie International School, a private school located on Wahab Larinde Street in the Mafoluku, Oshodi area of Lagos like other students only to be hit by a bus belonging to the school.
The driver of the Toyota Litace school bus, it was gathered, ran her over while driving into the school compound.
She was said to be with the school’s gatekeeper around 1pm on the fateful day when the driver attempted to drive in.
The gatekeeper reportedly placed Memunat on a bench as he made to open the gate for the driver, but both men had missed the toddler walking into the path of the bus.
She was knocked down as the driver drove into the compound.
Memunat reportedly gave up the ghost shortly after she was admitted in a hospital in the area.
“Everybody was devastated by the incident. Normally, when a vehicle wants to enter or leave the school premises, the guards open the gate. One opens a side of the gate, while the other opens the other side. But that day, one of the gatekeepers, called Malami, was not around when the school bus blew the horn from outside,” an anonymous witness told Punch.
“The girl was playing with the available gatekeeper. He put her on the bench and went to open the gate. As he was opening the other side of the gate, the girl left her seat. She walked into the path of the bus, which hit her. One of the schoolteachers told me that the mother had been taken to one of her relatives.”
Lagos State Police PRO, SP Dolapo Badmos said the Command had launched an investigation into the incident.
“An accident occurred at about 1.20pm on Thursday, at the gate of Bessie International School. A Toyota Litace marked, JJJ393BU, knocked down a one and half years old girl standing by the gate. She was rushed to a hospital, where she was confirmed dead. The case is under investigation,” she said.
