Police were on the search for a 10-year-old boy who took a 60-seater bus for a joyride and crashed it at Samabula, Suva.
According to an article published by The Fiji Times on September 7. 1987, the bus, belonging to Khalil Khan and Company of Nausori, was parked at Raiwaqa when the boy drove off in it.
Its owner, Mahmood Khan, said the driver had parked to have his lunch. He was to have picked up a special charter group from Nasole Church but the bus had disappeared when he returned.
By that time, the bus had nose-dived down an eight-metre embankment at the junction of Ratu Mara Rd and Grantham Rd.
Witnesses told this newspaper that as the front of the bus hit the bottom of the embankment, the boy was thrown clear from it.
He scrambled to his feet and ran off towards Mead Rd. He was not hurt.
A group of boys chased him, but they turned back when he threw stones at them.
“He is a small little fellow, but boy, he’s got guts,” one of the boys who chased him said.
Mr Khan said two trucks had to be called to pull the bus out of the ditch. Damage to the bus was about $1000. He said the bus could start without an ignition key.
“How the boy managed to get it started, I don’t know,” he said.
“What disturbs me is not so much the accident but why the police want to keep the bus at Raiwaqa Police Station.
“By now my men could have been working on the bus to put it back on the road as soon as possible. Why should an examiner check the bus when it was not involved in an accident through any fault of the bus.
“They should be looking for the boy and let me look after my bus.”
A police spokesman said it was normal procedure that an examination of the bus be made by the Road Transport Department after an accident.
“We are investigating the matter and it’s part of our duty to get the bus examined,” the spokesman said.
