Boy, 6, who died after being left on bus in Dubai is named

Child remained on the vehicle for several hours in searing summer heat

Mohamed Farhan Faisal and his father, Mohamed Faisal Karakunhi. Courtesy Karakunhi family

A six-year-old boy who died after being left on a bus for several hours during the summer heat was buried in Dubai on Sunday.

Mohamed Farhan Faisal, whose family is from Kerala, India, was in a vehicle belonging to Al Manar Islamic Centre, a Quran memorisation centre, in Al Quoz, when the tragedy occurred on Saturday.

All other children on the bus, which Dubai's Road and Transport Authority said it did not operate, are understood to have disembarked the bus when it reached the centre around 8am.

But Mohamed remained on board and was only discovered about three hours later by the bus driver as he left the centre to return the students home.

Officers from Bur Dubai police station, forensics and criminal investigation departments and emergency services were called but paramedics were unable to resuscitate the child.

“A six-year-old child of Asian nationality died in a bus belonging to a Quran memorisation centre in Al Quoz after all the children [got off] and closed the doors,” Dubai Police said in a statement on Twitter on Saturday.

It is understood the driver and bus supervisor are being held for questioning over the death.

Temperatures reached 48°C in some parts of the country last week and climbed to around 45°C on Saturday in Dubai.

An official cause of death is yet to be confirmed but a member of family, who did not wish to be named, said Mohamed suffocated due to the heat.

“It was not a school bus but the same [RTA] safety measures should be followed even on this bus," the relative said.

"The boy went for Quran studies to Al Manar Islamic Centre. This is a madrasa under the Waqf Board for Islamic education so the same safety should be followed. The driver did not realise the boy was in the bus so he shut the vehicle and only realised the boy was inside at 11am. There was just too much heat so the boy suffocated inside the bus," the relative told The National.

He said the boy's father and immediate family were too upset to speak. Mohamed was buried at Al Quoz Cemetery Mosque at 5pm on Sunday. About 50 people attended the private burial.

The General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, which oversees all Quran centres in Dubai, offered condolences to the family.

Children dying in vehicles left in to the intense heat of the UAE's summer have occurred before.

In October 2014, Nizaha Aalaa, 3, died from heat exhaustion after being accidentally locked inside her school bus in Abu Dhabi.

The driver of the vehicle and a supervisor were sentenced to three years in jail for negligence.

The owner of the transport company that leased the vehicle to Al Worood Academy Private School in the capital, and a school administrator, were also found guilty of charges related to her death.

Al Worood Academy was ordered to close as a result of the incident. It was also ordered to pay a fine of Dh150,000.