A boy (7) is in a critical condition in a Dublin hospital after falling from a school bus in Co Leitrim.
The boy suffered serious injuries after he fell through the emergency doors at the back of the moving bus yesterday afternoon on the Drumlish Road near Mohill. It is understood he is in intensive care in Beaumont Hospital.
The driver had just picked up children from Gortletteragh National School at around 3pm when the incident happened.
The boy was rushed to Sligo General Hospital before being transferred to Beaumont. A spokeswoman said he is in a critical but stable condition.
Gardaí are carrying out an examination of the bus today along with a public service vehicle inspector.
A Bus Éireann spokeswoman said the 17-year-old bus was operated by local contractor and had passed all road worthiness tests.
"It is a 53-seater coach fully fitted with seat belts. There were 28 children on the bus when the accident happened, so every child had a seat," the spokeswoman said. "At this time it looks like a very regrettable accident and we hope that the young boy makes a full recovery. It's every parent's nightmare."
The bus passed its Department of Environment road worthiness test, which included inspections of the emergency doors, in June last year.
Bus Éireann and the Garda opened investigations after a teenage boy fell from a schoolbus in Co Monaghan last May. The boy apparently fell through the emergency door of the bus on the Keady road near the village of Oram as it travelled from Castleblayney College.
Following that accident, Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said the bus had only been travelling at around 15 km/h when the incident occurred. He said Bus Éireann had written to the parents of all the children using the service asking them to ensure their children used the seatbelts.
Mr Cullen said then that despite a "bad run", Ireland's bus safety record was one of the best in the world.
A safety review of the school bus system was ordered after a fire gutted a school bus in Co Westmeath last year. The bus, which had just been serviced, was taking 32 children to Athboy Community School. No one was injured.
And in April last year, 15-year-old Michael White, from Clara, Co Offaly, died when a school bus crashed.
Five teenage girls died in May 2005 when a Bus Éireann school bus crashed on the Navan to Kentstown Road in Co Meath.
Also in 2005, a Bus Éireann school bus caught fire as it travelled from Drogheda in Co Louth to Garristown, Co Meath, to pick up school children.
Additional reporting: PA