Boy, 5, dies after bus backs up over him in Sharjah

Police say parents and bus driver are at fault

Dubai // An accident that caused the death of a five-year-old Emirati boy, who was crushed under the wheels of a school bus in Sharjah, should be blamed on the driver and the boy's parents, police say.

The boy died on Thursday afternoon as he was waiting for his neighbour to come back from school.

Sharjah Police said the driver, who is from an unidentified Asian country, has been detained at Al Hira police station.

"This accident is a joint responsibility between the driver, who should have been more alert, and the parents, who left the boy on the road without supervision," said Lt Col Ahmed bin Darwish, the head of the patrol department at Sharjah Police.

The incident occurred at about 1pm on Thursday on one of the unpaved inner roads in the Umm Khanoor area, he said.

A private school bus rolled over the boy, who was standing behind one of the vehicle's back wheels. The driver failed to see the boy before turning to leave the road.

"The boy was standing outside waiting for one of his neighbours to come down from the bus," Lt Col bin Darwish said.

The bus driver immediately rushed him to the Kuwaiti Hospital, which was not far from the scene of the accident.

But the boy was pronounced dead on arrival.