JEDDAH: Preliminary investigations have found no criminal intention or foul play in the death of an eight-year-old boy in the school bus in Naseem district here on Sunday, a source from the Jeddah police has said.

The student, Nawaf Al-Sulami, did not get down from the bus after it arrived at his private school on Sunday morning, and he was found dead in the afternoon the same day.

Local media quoted the police source as saying on Tuesday that the security authorities received a report about the child’s death in the school bus, following which an investigation was ordered.

The primary police report said that after the school got over in the afternoon, the 36-year-old bus driver of Arab nationality saw the child in the bus and thought he was unconscious. He reported the matter to the administration of the school and the competent authorities.

The source said that an initial examination of the body did not indicate any signs of violence. He said the driver was under investigation and that the case has been referred to the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution (BIPP).

Meanwhile, BIPP began its investigation after the boy’s body was received by the Kandara police station.

Dr. Abdullah Al-Qarni, director of forensics at Jeddah health department, was quoted as saying that the department was yet to receive the child’s body.

In October last year, Abdul Malik, a Grade 3 student, died of suffocation after he was left in a school bus here.

The Asian bus driver was arrested then. The Education Ministry shut down the school two months later in December for being negligent.