Close Encounter with Death
6-Feb-2010 03:21 PM

A class one student of Bishop Kempthorne Memorial School was hit by an oncoming van yesterday along Khalsa Road. The white van with registration number FB004 was driven by an Indo-Fijian.

However, the boy was fortunate when the caring driver did not run away but took him straight to the hospital after the accident.

The boy’s mother was there during the accident she could not do anything but watched helplessly from the side of the road where she was looking after a fruit and vegetable stall.

Witnesses and neighbours who ran to the scene after they heard a loud noise and a woman’s scream said the boy was shaking from the impact of the accident when he was lifted from the road by a teenager who accompanied the boy to the hospital.

Acting Director of National Road Safety Council (NRSC) Timoci Satakala said these incidents usually happen to students who are exposed to a new environment especially students who come from the island to attend school in the city.

“We should keep in mind that children are children and they will behave like children, it is our role as parents, teachers and drivers to be responsible,” he said.

“Our department is concerned with the children’s lives and I am pleading with the general public to take care when sending your children to the shop. Continue to be responsible look after our lives and our children’s lives, this is just the beginning of a new school year”.

The boy’s sister who also attends BKMS said the driver and the teenager dropped her kid brother back home and informed her parents that the small boy will be having a review on Monday.

NRSC will be launching a programme focusing on child safety in the not too distant future.

By ALISI TUINAKELO