Toddler dies after being locked inside a hot school van for 6 hours

A 2-year-old boy in Thailand who was left inside a sweltering hot bus for six hours has died after going into a coma for four days. Nong Kongbin was headed to nursery school on August 11, when the school bus driver forgot to account for him. The driver left and locked up the van, leaving the boy inside the bus under the scorching Thai heat. The boy was found unconscious in the back seat, six hours after his other schoolmates had unloaded the bus and gone to their class.

The situation came to light when Nong Kongbin's mother noticed something odd about the class pictures being posted on social media by his teachers. Her son was not included in the class pictures so she called the school. She decided to check on her boy and by the time the mother arrived at the school, her son had already been rushed to the hospital.

The driver explained he was in a rush to get all the children out of the van that morning to steer clear of the incoming storm and failed to notice the boy. Meanwhile, nursery director Sunistha Phookwanish said the school's staff are the ones in charge of looking after the 17 students.

At the time, the temperature in southern Thailand was around 32ºC, making it nearly twice as hot inside the locked van. The boy was believed to have been in the vehicle from 7:30am to 1:30pm.
He was taken into intensive care but had slipped into a coma.

The boy's attending doctor, Dr. Songkiate Lektrakoon said, "After four days in a coma, we needed to inform Nong Kongbin's family to prepare for the loss. We took him off the life support machine after the family decided not to use it for the boy anymore."

According to the reports from the Bangkok post, Nong Konbin's death was confirmed on Saturday evening after his liver, kidneys and other organs stopped working

The chief of local police, Police Major General Sonthichai Arwattanakulthep said the driver, the school staff and teachers are to be held accountable for the boy's death and will be charged with negligence. Meanwhile, the boy's grieving family has received initial assistance amounting to 10,000 baht ( £245) from the child care centre.