Bus Crushes Boy’s Dream to be Teacher
Ten-year-old Taniela Tuinivonu’s dream to be a teacher ended on Saturday when he became the 13th road fatality so far this year.
He was believed to have run across the road and was hit by a bus at Wainisarava settlement in Namosi at around 7am.
Yesterday, his mother, Vitalina Maraivalu, recounted Taniela’s last moments. Mrs Maraivalu said her son crossed behind a parked carrier and got run over by an oncoming bus.
“We shouted for the driver to stop because my son was trapped under the bus,” she said.
“He was lying there injured and was still conscious.” She added that they rushed him to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. “My son was a very good and intelligent boy,” Mrs Maraivalu said.
“He always told his siblings that he wanted to be a teacher.”
Mrs Maraivalu has seven children, Taniela was her fourth child.
“Oilei na luvequ, cava ko sa biuti au kina vatotolo. (Oh my son, why do you have to leave me so soon),” she grieved.
“You were just here yesterday when I woke up and today I woke up without seeing your handsome face. “Please my son, wherever you are, come back to me.” Taniela was a Year 4 student of Navunikabi Catholic School in Namosi. From Navua Hospital the body of the 10-year-old is to be transferred to Suva’s CWM Hospital today for a post mortem examination. To protest against what they termed as speeding motorists, villagers in Namosi piled rocks on the road yesterday.
According to a police statement, a 40-year-old bus driver, who is in custody was heading towards Suva from Naraiyawa Village when Taniela was run over at Wainisarava.
Investigations are continuing. The road death toll for the same time last year was 15.