The accident happened on Friday around 11 a.m. at the Sint-Martinus school in Burcht, Belgium, near Antwerp. The class had a gymnastics lesson on the program, in which the toddlers had to complete an obstacle course that is also called ‘travel around the world’.
For reasons that are still unclear, 4-year-old Sidra got stuck in one of the gymnastics equipment while completing that course. She was resuscitated by the school’s gymnastics teacher and director, after which she was taken to hospital in critical condition.
‘Intense sadness’
She died there yesterday, five days later, from her injuries, writes the Belgian broadcaster VRT News. “Feelings of disbelief, intense sadness and incomprehension now dominate,” the school’s director, Wim Van Ranst, told the news channel.
Van Ranst: “In recent days we have had unwavering sympathy for Sidra’s parents and the brother who also attends our school in the first year. Expressing that sympathy to them was not easy because they are in great misunderstanding and we are experiencing anger. Of course we fully understand that.”
‘Seemingly simple gymnastics setup’
The school says that they still do not know exactly what happened to Sidra, but that during gym class it was an ‘apparently simple setup that invited the toddlers to move’.
Sidra’s family told the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws that they were ‘devastated with grief’. The police and the Public Prosecution Service are investigating the toddler’s death.
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