A nine-year-old Winnipeg girl spent two-and-a-half hours in the freezing cold Tuesday morning, after her school bus driver skipped part of the route.
Tumia Roberts says she waited at her regular bus stop as long as she could before she eventually decided to walk home.
By the time the little girl got there, around 8:30 a.m., her mother Izabella had left for work and the house had been locked. It was a frigid -17 C.
"I couldn't get in there so I just put my backpack down and I used it as a pillow to lie down there,鈥� the girl said.
The school eventually called Izabella to report that Tumia hadn鈥檛 arrived. Frantic, the single mother demanded to know why she hadn鈥檛 been called sooner.
"I asked them why it took them two-and-a half hours to tell me my child was missing when they fully-well know that 鈥� she's supposed to be on the bus,鈥� she said.
鈥淪he could have been snatched, she could have been in an accident,鈥� she added. 鈥淎nything could have happened.鈥�
Izabella quickly found her daughter in the backyard and took her to a hospital for exposure to the cold. Tumia said Wednesday that she still has sore spots.
The St. James-Assiniboia School Division blames Tumia鈥檚 bus driver for skipping part of the route 鈥� apparently to avoid traffic delays.
Ecole Assiniboine Principal Sandra Melo said nine students were marked absent because the bus didn鈥檛 show up and it took time to figure out what had happened.
The school division said the privately-contracted bus driver who failed to pick up Tumia and eight others will no longer be allowed to drive for their schools.
With a report from CTV Winnipeg鈥檚 Josh Crabb
