A Brazilian schoolgirl died after she leaned her head out a bus window and was hit by a pole.
She was trying to wave to her classmates.
The freak accident 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 at the time, decided to lean her out the window of the moving vehicle to say goodbye to her friends, per Jam Press.
Suddenly, the 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 bus 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.
Nova Faol subsequently 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 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.
