Fernanda Pacheco Ferraz, Brazilian girl on school bus killed when head collides with pole while waving to friends on sidewalk after bus driver makes sudden move to avoid oncoming traffic.
A Brazilian schoolgirl was killed in a freak accident when she leaned her head out a bus window only to tragically be hit by a pole. At the time, the unwitting teen was trying to wave to her classmates.
The incident occurred last week after Fernanda Pacheco Ferraz, 13, left Rio de Janeiro’s Professor Carlos Côrtes State College, where she studied, to get to her home in the Catarcione neighborhood, Brazilian media reported.
Tragedy struck after the teen, who was sitting at the back of the bus, last Wednesday, circa 6pm, decided to lean her head out the window of the moving vehicle to say goodbye to her friends, Brazil’s Globo reported.
13 year school bus driver veteran alerted authorities
It was at this moment, the bus driver swerved to avoid oncoming traffic on the narrow street, whereupon Fernanda collided with a pole near the curb, suffering grievous head injuries.
Passengers informed the driver of the accident, prompting him to stop the vehicle.
The quick-thinking driver, a 13-year veteran of the bus company, Nova Faol, alerted the authorities as well as the transit firm’s management.
Unfortunately, Fernanda was already dead by the time first responders arrived.
Student’s tragic death widely mourned
Nova Faol put out a statement in which it expressed ‘regret at the unexpected and tragic incident’ and pledged to assist the authorities with the ongoing investigation.
The Government of Rio declared two days of official mourning for the death of the student, local media reported.
The secretary of state for education also mourned the student’s death in a note.
‘Seeduc sympathizes with the immense pain of the family and has been providing all the assistance to it and the school community,’ wrote the official, who suspended classes for two days so the community could mourn Fernanda’s passing.
The teen was laid to rest at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Trilha do Céu cemetery.
