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Police looking for mini-bus driver who dropped off a nine-year-old girl in frost

She had no money and went to the railway station on foot. She was walking from 17:00 till midnight

MOSCOW, March 12 (Itar-Tass) – The Investigative Committee /SK/ is looking for the mini-bus driver who dropped off a schoolgirl in frosty weather because she could not pay the fare. The child went missing after the incident, SK spokesman Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

"On March 11, social networks disseminated the information that a nine-year-old girl was missing in Moscow. She failed to return home after a lesson at a music school. The girl's mother reported her disappearance to police. Volunteers joined the search. Fortunately, the missing child was found safe and sound at the Losinoostrovskaya railway station around midnight.

"Despite the fact, the SK department for Moscow opened criminal proceedings, in order to ascertain all the circumstances of her disappearance, and give a legal assessment to actions or inaction of adults on whom the child's fate depended," Markin said.

The investigators have already ascertained that a Route 333 mini-bus driver had dropped off the girl because she had been unable to pay a fare of 40 roubles. He dropped her off in frost despite her small age," Markin said. The girl had neither money nor a mobile phone and went to the Losinoostrovskaya railway station on foot. She was walking from 17:00 till midnight. "A guard noticed the girl at the station; he saw she had lost her bearings, and called police," according to the spokesman.

The investigators questioned witnesses. A statement will be sent to the leadership of the transport company to eliminate the causes and conditions that resulted in the incident, as the child might have become a victim of crime.

He underlined that ascertaining the identity of the driver was a matter of time. "The SK offers him to turn himself in and explain his action and the circumstances of the incident," Markin said.

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