Grief in Leiden after 7-year-old girl is killed in collision with public bus
A 7-year-old girl succumbed to her injuries after she was hit by a public bus in Leiden on Saturday around 1 p.m.
The young girl had been cycling on the Steenstraat near the Beestenmarket with her parents on Saturday. According to police the car door of a parked taxi suddenly swung open causing the girl to swerve into the street. She fell in front of a public bus and died of her injuries at the scene.
Emergency services were quick to the spot but were unable to resuscitate the girl. The site of the accident was sectioned off for a long time. Both the taxi and the bus driver were taken to the police station for questioning.
Many people witnessed the incident because a market was being held. Leiden residents shared their condolences to the family via social media. “I was walking in the square, it was dramatic”, one bystander wrote.
A market trader from the neighborhood said that the busy traffic situation in that part of the city contributed to the tragic accident. “The situation here has to be changed. This was not necessary”, he said to the AD.
