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Monica Bodden has the story:

Monica Bodden reporting
Three year old Rayjanee McFadzean was crushed underneath this yellow bus as she was being led by her brother, five year old Tayjaun Flowers between the two busses.

The bloodstain shows where the child was run over by the bus.

The bus was turning into the Belize Rural Primary School Site Two, formerly St. Thomas Anglican School - and is passed beside another parked bus - the two small children were caught in between and run over.

Marilyn Stevenson, Principal - Belize Rural Primary School
"The brother was holding on to his little sister's hand moving very slowly and without any care crossing the road, then that's when it happened. Apparently the bus driver didn't see them coming and when he turn they were moving slowly. It happens with just a blink of the eye and I shout at him saying Mr. Fidel, when I shouted I just heard "blip, blip" the wheel ran over them and then everybody in the bus started crying and screaming."

Teacher Kay Smith got over that fright and went outside to render assistance:

Kay Smith, Belize Rural Primary School
"Yes I did have the strength because as it was my own child, so I actually when I heard the screaming in the bus I actually got up from my seat that I was sitting in the front and I tell the driver to open this door. I don't know where I got the strength but I just pull that door open and at the same time I rush out there and I saw somebody with the baby in his hand and I just said can I have this child and I just hold her and at this time she was crying and her feet was in very difficult state. I was shouting for a nurse to come, I shouted for someone to call 911. It was a very sad time for me holding that child out there. I don't know where I got the strength from but I did. I held her for about 10 minutes after which the same guy that was holding her where the incident happened went over and took her in his arms to the nurse because she came out."

Jules Vasquez
"She was conscious? Was she able to understand what you were telling her?"

Kay Smith
"She was conscious but at the time she was crying in my hands."

Jules Vasquez
"Did you tell her anything?"

Kay Smith
"I didn't have time to talk to her at that moment because I felt the pain that she was feeling as well and so after which I saw the mother coming and she just was kneeling down on the ground crying."

Jules Vasquez
"How about the brother?"

Kay Smith
"I saw the little boy running to his mother. He actually got up. Fortunately he didn't get bad hurt but I saw one of his feet swell and he also had a swelling in his head, so I guess he got hot as well, but not as bad as the little girl."

Rayjanee was still alive then - she died about four hours later at the KHMH - while her brother has been discharged.

These pictures are of the three year old at a birthday party for a relative a week ago - she is described as being a lively child.

But now a dash of sand covers the area where she bled out. The child lived here in this small wooden shack - with her mother, Shanda Usher and siblings.

It is 100 feet away from the accident scene and 50 feet from the village school where her brother would have been going to school - but since the amalgamation of the Belize river Valley Schools, he now goes to school in Rancho.

He was walking her to her babysitter at the bus stop - where he would have also jumped on the bus to his new school in Rancho.

But they were caught between the busses - and crushed.

Was it driver error?

Marilyn Stevenson
"No, I don't think it's the fault of anyone. I think what happen the front of the bus was here and they were coming from that way and instead of going behind the bus they came at an angle like this and so at the same time the bus was turning and that's when they got hit."

Everyone in the morning school rush witnessed it - and the community's collective grief was palpable as school was called off:

Reporter
"School was call off for today?"

Marilyn Stevenson
"Yes and it was because of the children. They were all traumatized and we have children from sites that were on the bus because we have children going to Rancho, children to Bermudian Landing and to Flowers Bank. We have from all sites and they were well traumatized."

Kay Smith
"Afterwards in the end when I got back in the bus I started to cry. I felt it then."

According to unofficial reports, the child died in surgery. Her brother, five year ld Tayjaun was treated and released. The tragedy is doubled for Shanda Usher, the 30 year old mother of the deceased Rayjanee McFadzean. Shanda also lost an infant in April of this year - a child less than a year old who died during sleep.

Police have impounded the bus and served the driver with a notice of intended prosecution. But there is no word yet on what charges - if any - will be brought - because police are consulting with the DPP.

The Ministry of Education - which manages the Belize Rural Primary School system - and is responsible for the busses - issued a press release this evening.

It says that, quote,

"The Ministry of Education and Youth is extending assistance and support, including grief counseling, to the family of the child and others who witnessed or were affected by this most unfortunate incident."

It adds that: "the Ministry will review the report on the incident and current practices to reduce the likelihood of such an unfortunate incident happening again."

School wardens are posted at each of the three campuses comprising the school as well as on the buses that transport the children to and from school each day.