UAE BARQ برق الإمارات – نبضك
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid visited three boys who survived a school bus fire in Sharjah, on Wednesday.
The Vice President and Ruler of Dubai visited the Emirati pupils at Al Qudwa School. In a video, circulated on social media, Sheikh Mohammed was seen walking the halls of the school in Kalba with Khalifa Al Kaabi.
Sheikh Mohammed was touring the Eastern region of the UAE to follow up on how the start of the school year was going.
“I made sure to visit the hero pupil Khalifa Abdullah Al Kaabi,” Sheikh Mohammed said. “He is the pride of his generation and his courage reflects our inherent values. We thank him for saving his classmates when their school bus caught fire.”
Khalifa, 12, was one of the three children on board the bus when it erupted in flames at 6.30am on Tuesday. We was called a hero for helping to evacuate the bus of its two other passengers – his friends Mohammed, 13, and Mayed, 13 – and the driver.
Speaking to The National on Tuesday, Khalifa said he first noticed a strange smell when he entered the bus.
“I joined my friend Mohammed and sat with him on the back seat of the bus but the smell became worse and after few minutes the driver stopped to check the bus and when he tried to turn the engine on again he failed,” said Khalifa, a Grade 7 pupil.
“And that’s when the fire started to come out from the back of our seats.”
Khalifa pulled his friends off their seats and rushed them out of the bus.
“The driver panicked and was in shock so I started shouting at him to get out of the bus,” he said.
The fire happened only 150 metres away from Khalifa’s house. He said the explosion rocked the bus, lifting it off the ground.
Sharjah Police said the fire was quickly extinguished and that there had been no casualties.
The Ministry of Education said officials were investigating the cause of the incident “to ensure the safety and security of all the pupils” and the boys were put on another bus to take them to school.
