Investigation Launched After 3 Students Fall Out of School Bus in Bien Hoa

Security camera footage of the incident shocked viewers.

Dan Tri reports that officials in Bien Hoa have demanded an explanation from Phan Boi Chau Primary School after three young students fell out the back of a careening vehicle.

On November 26, as the Mercedes-Benz MB100 van rounded a corner, a CCTV camera captured the frightening moment when the rear door suddenly opened and three children tumbled out onto the street.

According to the news source, the students were sitting on stools in the back of the van, which also fell out with the kids. Incredibly, the driver failed to notice what had happened and carried on down the road. Fortunately the students were unharmed and got up immediately, and there was no other traffic on the small road at the time.

The Bien Hoa Department of Education and Training has ordered the school to report on why this occurred. On November 27, Vu Thi Binh, Phan Boi Chau Primary School's principal confirmed that the three students are attending first grade at the school in class 1/6.

According to Binh, the van, however, is not an official school bus but a private vehicle the class' form teacher rented to transport students between the school and her house for tuition classes. The principal added that the rear door opened because the students were playing and accidentally unlocked it.

In September, officials in Saigon ordered an inspection of private bus services hired by local schools to transport students. This came after two cases in Hanoi where students were left unattended in school buses. A six-year-old boy at Gateway International School in the capital died in one of the incidents.

[Photo via Dan Tri]