Eight-year-old boy spends 45-minute journey trapped and screaming for help inside a bus luggage compartment after he fell in while putting his bag away on a 37C day
- Nicole Gilchrist’s son was trapped in luggage department of school bus
- Ms Gilchrist said he had been crying and screaming but nobody heard him
- She said her son was offered counselling but she will be pulling him from school
A mother has pulled her son out of school after he was trapped in a bus luggage compartment for nearly an hour during a trip.
Nicole Gilchrist’s eight-year-old son was dropping his bag in the bus’ storage area when the door closed behind him during a Muswellbrook South Public School trip to Blackbutt Reserve in Newcastle on Tuesday.
His mother Nicole said he spent the 45-minute journey crying and calling out for help but nobody heard him.
It wasn’t until the bus parked at a rest stop that his teachers realised he was missing.
Nicole Gilchrist’s son was accidentally trapped in the luggage compartment of the school bus for 45 minutes during an excursion
‘It just should never, ever have happened, it’s unreal,’ Ms Gilchrist told the Newcastle Herald.
‘He had been banging and screaming.
‘He very easily could have died and that’s all I can think about,’ she said.
Her son was found after the group stopped for a toilet break near Singleton.
Ms Gilchrist said it was even more traumatic for the eight-year-old who had just been recovering from a fractured skull and seizure.
She said he was offered counselling by the school but refused to send him back.
Nicole (pictured) was horrified to hear the news and said she won’t be sending her son back to the primary school
A spokesperson for the Department of Education told Daily Mail Australia Ms Gilchrist’s son was checked by paramedics.
‘The student was let out of the luggage hold, provided with water, and checked by paramedics on his return to school. He was not harmed,’ the spokesperson said.
‘Appropriate action has been taken involving the staff supervising the excursion.’
Muswellbrook as well as several other suburbs in New South Wales were given a three day heatwave alert.
On Tuesday, Muswellbrook reached a maximum temperature of 37C.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Muswellbrook South Public School for comment.
The boy was screaming for help after he was trapped but nobody heard him. Pictured: Muswellbrook South Public School