Footage has emerged of the terrifying moment a boy became trapped in the doors of a school bus before being dragged down a road in Melbourne.
Nathaniel, 12, was on his way to school in the city’s south-east on March 16 when his bag and right arm got caught in the automatic bus doors.
He was dragged for about 350m down the street before the bus driver noticed, with the boy now traumatised by the ordeal, according to his mum Grace.
‘As a child, you don’t really realise the seriousness of it, but as a parent and as a mum, I know how dangerous it was. And you know, he could have died,’ Grace told the Today show on Monday.
‘His whole body was outside the door and the bus driver didn’t check his mirrors and then just took off with him on the outside.’
Grace said Nathaniel was ‘too stunned’ to react at first, and then sprung into action when the bus started moving off, lifting his legs to keep them off the ground.
‘Honestly, if he was a taller student or a weaker student, there was no way that he would be able to hang on, you know, for the distance on the side of a moving bus at that speed,’ she said.
Grace said the only reason her son was freed was because the driver had to stop at the next bus stop.
The bus company, Ventura Bus Lines, has reportedly passed the school bus as roadworthy and has put the vehicle back on the road.
‘The back door only has one sensor in the middle of the door, and Nathaniel was caught under the sensor, so it didn’t trigger any, you know, alarms or anything,’ Grace explained.
‘However, the door wasn’t fully closed. You know, his arm was caught in it. You would think that that would have been a safety feature of the bus to at least, you know, have another alarm for that.’
Grace said Nathaniel is seeking counselling support as he is experiencing anxiety and the effects of trauma.
‘He’s no longer able to catch the bus by himself. He gets panic attacks when he sees a bus of a similar, you know, advertisement,’ Grace said.
The Daily Mail has contacted Ventura Bus Lines for comment.
