Boy, 8, hit by school bus

A witness said the boy had run in front of the 33-seater bus, tripped and fallen over.

ABU DHABI // An eight-year-old boy was rushed to Sheikh Khalifa Medical City yesterday after being hit by a bus near his school.

The accident happened at about 7.45am in the car park next to the side entrance of the International School of Choueifat, opposite Mushrif Park.

A 40-year-old Indian driver of a different school bus said that the boy, who was in the second grade, had run in front of the 33-seater school bus, tripped and fallen over.

The boy, believed to be of Arab nationality, sustained "minor" injuries, including a leg fracture, he said.

"He was really scared and cried a lot," he said. "I saw him lying on the ground and some parents even cried when they saw him."

An ambulance and police arrived after 10 minutes, he said.

A 35-year-old housewife who dropped her eight year-old son to school the morning of the accident said everyone expected schools and buses to be safe.

"I feel bad for the parents who were not around when it happened," she said.

Another housewife, 33, from India, who picked up her eight-year-old son from the school in the afternoon, said she had seen the boy lying on the ground after the accident.

"Many people were gathered around him," she said.

Abu Dhabi Police confirmed the accident but did not provide any details.

Col Hussein Ahmed Al Harthi, the head of the Police Traffic and Patrols Directorate, said the accident was being investigated, and the police's findings would be released next week.

A member of staff at the school declined to comment.