It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to discover that their child isn’t where they are supposed to be. Their safety is paramount, so fear and panic take over when that’s called into question.

Unfortunately, a dad named Miguel Lugo experienced just that. He showed up at his 4-year-old daughter’s preschool only to discover that she had been sitting on the school bus for hours and no one noticed.

He found out that his 4-year-old was left alone on the school bus for five hours after arriving at her classroom holiday party.

According to BreakingACMiguel Lugo put his 4-year-old daughter on the school bus to Bargaintown Preschool a little after 9 a.m. on December 17 before going to buy supplies for a holiday party his daughter’s class was throwing later that day.

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However, after picking up all of the supplies and returning to his daughter’s school, Miguel was shocked to learn that the little girl was missing.

“He got to school at 2, only to be told she never made it to school,” the girl’s mom, Danielle Lugo, told the news outlet.

Miguel was asked if he was certain that his daughter made it on the school bus — he was. A search then kicked off, and eventually, Makani Lugo was found in the back of her school bus, which was parked 10 minutes from the school.

Danielle admitted that when they found her daughter, she was “crying, hysterical, and cold” from having not eaten anything. Makani was reunited with her father, who immediately took her to the doctor to get checked out.

Video footage inside the bus showed the student next to Makani trying to nudge the sleeping child awake when they were supposed to get off the bus. The student also notified someone, but it seems the young girl was forgotten.

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The little girl’s parents were understandably confused and upset that no one checked to see if she was still on the bus.

Danielle told the news outlet that she didn’t understand how neither the driver nor the assigned bus aide saw her daughter. She also questioned why she was not notified by the school that Makani was not in class as is protocol.

The mom also noted that she’d been in contact with her daughter’s teacher throughout the day to let her know that her husband would be going to the class holiday party because she was unable to get out of work. Yet the teacher hadn’t even noticed that Makani wasn’t in the classroom.

“Regretfully a preschool student was unintentionally left on the school bus yesterday after the morning route,” Superintendent Dr. Kimberly Gruccio said in a statement on the incident. “An employee discovered the student on the bus later in the day, and immediate action was taken to assist the student, and the student’s parents were notified and reunited with their child.”

“Appropriate authorities were contacted, and while an investigation is ongoing, this type of mistake is unacceptable, and the employees involved are no longer employed in the district,” she continued. “The district cannot comment further except to say that our hearts go out to this family, and as a district, we will continue to focus on student safety remaining our number one priority.”

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This little girl is not the only child to have been left behind on a school bus.

Unfortunately, this has happened before in Texas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, and Washington, to name a few.

According to data collected by the Indiana Department of Education, reported on by School Transportation News50% of school bus drivers in the state who missed children on board at the end of routes provided insufficient information as to how the incident occurred.

Meanwhile, 30% of the bus drivers stated that they didn’t walk the aisle of the bus, 20% admitted they were distracted, and 10% walked the bus but still didn’t see the child. This type of negligence is unacceptable.

Parents entrust the school and bus drivers to protect their children and ensure their safety. When they put their kids on the bus, they expect them to make it to school. There’s no excuse for a child to be forgotten nor for their absence to go unnoticed.

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Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.