HEARTBREAKING

Missouri First-Grader Fatally Struck by School Bus

“This morning we were singing Christmas carols together,” the school superintendent said. “This is a bad day.”

A first-grader in Missouri was fatally struck by his school bus on Tuesday afternoon just after finishing his last day of school before Christmas break. The boy, whose name has not been released, was a student at Plattin Primary School near Festus, about 30 minutes from St. Louis. He had just gotten off the bus and was hit while it was driving away with other students, authorities said. “This morning we were singing Christmas carols together,” Superintendent Clint Johnston told reporters, per the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “This is a bad day; it’s a bad day for our school, it’s a bad day for our community. We’re hurting.” Investigators are working to determine how the tragedy happened. “Please keep our families and our community and our children in your thoughts and prayers. It’s going to be a tough Christmas season for a lot of people,” adding that grief counselors would be available for students.