Four-year-old girl left alone on school bus for seven hours

A four-year-old girl spent the day on a school bus in Alveringem, a municipality in West Flanders, after falling asleep on the bus and going unnoticed by the driver.

The child spent around seven hours on the bus without food or water, Het Laatste Nieuws reports.

“The journey itself only takes five minutes, but she must have fallen asleep,” her mother told the newspaper.

The four-year-old girl was picked up in front of her home but did not get off at the scheduled stop.

While her absence was recorded by the school, teachers assumed she was ill and stayed home.

It was not until around 16.00 that the girl’s parents were alerted by the bus driver and the school’s administration.

“She said she had slept a lot and called out for us, but we couldn't hear her because we were working too far away,” her mother said.

The girl did have a drink and a snack in her school bag, but did not touch them because the bus rules forbid eating and drinking.

While the parents decided not to file a formal complaint, the municipality’s mayor said the incident was being taken seriously.