Qatar school shut by authorities after 4-year-old's death

Doha: The Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Qatar has shut down the private nursery school responsible for the death of a four-year-old girl here on Sunday.

Minsa, hailing from a Malayali family, was suffocated to death after she was locked up in her school bus for hours. She was the daughter of Kochuparambil Abhilash Chacko and Soumya, hailing from Chingavanam in Kottayam district.

The LKG-1 student of Springfield Kindergarten at Al Vakra in Doha was celebrating her birthday on Sunday.

Funeral today

Minsa's mortal remains arrived at the Cochin International Airport after 8.45am on Wednesday in a Qatar Airways flight.

The body was released to the relatives after an extensive post-mortem lasting two days. A large crowd had gathered outside the mortuary to pay tribute to the child.

The funeral will take place at 5pm at the family residence in Chingavanam, Kottayam.

Minister visits parents

Qatar's Minister of Education Buthaina Al-Nuaimi met Minsa's parents and offered condolences to the couple. The education ministry has launched an investigation into the matter.

Local media reports suggest that three persons were arrested in connection with the incident.

The incident

On the fateful day, Minsa did not alight from the school bus as she had fallen asleep during the trip. The crew members locked the school bus thinking that everyone had got down from the bus.

In the afternoon, when the crew members entered the bus prior to the return trip, they saw the girl lying unconscious.

Though she was rushed to a hospital in Al Vakra, her life could not be saved.

Her father Abhilash, a designer-cum-artist, has been a resident of Doha for the last many years. Meekha, Minsa's sister, is a Class 2 student of MES Indian Public School.