Four-year-old girl trapped alone on English preschool bus for 3 hours... parents told she hadn’t shown up

[Financial News] Police have launched an investigation after it emerged that a four-year-old girl was left unattended for about three hours on a school bus for an English-language academy (an English kindergarten).
On the 5th, Newsis and other outlets reported that the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency is investigating four people, including the representative of an English kindergarten in Gyeonggi Province and the school bus driver, on suspicion of violating the Child Welfare Act.
They are suspected of neglecting their safety duties in connection with an incident on the first of last month in which A, a four-year-old girl who attends the kindergarten, was trapped on the school bus.
A boarded the school bus at around 10 a.m. that day to go to kindergarten, but could not get off because she was unable to unfasten her seat belt in the back seat. The bus attendant got off without realizing A was still on board, and the driver arrived at the depot about 30 minutes later, turned off the engine and left without checking inside the vehicle. Investigators also determined that the drop-off check device in the rearmost seat was switched off at the time. The safety device is designed to prompt drivers to check whether any children have been left inside the vehicle.
The situation came to light when the kindergarten notified A’s parents that she had not attended. After being contacted, her parents went looking for her and found her alone on the bus at around 1 p.m.
The next day, A’s parents filed a police complaint against four people, including the kindergarten representative, on suspicion of violating the Child Welfare Act.
The kindergarten acknowledged its negligence and said it would draw up measures to prevent a recurrence.
A police official said, “We have completed questioning the complainants and will question those named in the complaint soon,” adding, “We are checking the details of the incident.”
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter