“The driver got out, and it slid away” ... Bus carrying 26 elementary school students rolls downhill and hits pedestrian

[Financial News] A tour bus carrying around 20 elementary school students and preparing to depart for a field trip rolled down a slope and struck a pedestrian while the driver was away from the vehicle.
According to Gwangju Nambu Police Station and the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Fire Headquarters, among others, at around 8:46 a.m. on the 9th, a tour bus that was stopped on a road near a bus stop in Bongseon-dong, Nam District, Gwangju, rolled downhill and onto the sidewalk.
The bus slid about 10–15 meters downhill without a driver and struck A, a woman in her 70s who was walking on the sidewalk. It then hit a bus information display (BIT) and a street tree before finally stopping. A suffered serious injuries, including to her head, and was rushed to a nearby hospital by responders from the 119 Emergency Medical Service.
The bus involved in the accident had been rented from an experiential learning facility at a nearby elementary school. A total of 26 people, including elementary school students and supervising teachers who were waiting to leave for a field trip, were on board. Fortunately, none of the students or teachers aboard was injured. Immediately after the accident, the school canceled the entire field trip schedule and sent everyone aboard back to the school.
The police investigation found that B, the bus driver in his 70s, had briefly left the driver's seat and gotten out to ask the driver of another bus parked behind him to move the vehicle.
Police believe the bus rolled away because its braking system (parking brake) had not been properly engaged while it was stopped on the slope.
A police official said, “We plan to book driver B on suspicion of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents (causing injury) and investigate the exact circumstances of the accident, including whether the parking brake was engaged and whether safety measures for stopping and parking on a slope, such as placing wheel chocks, were followed.”

[email protected] Moon Young-jin Reporter