Shocking footage shows two young children wandering towards a busy road in Adelaide after leaving a daycare centre unsupervised.
9News obtained the video of the small children, who left Blair Athol Childcare Centre and were seen heading towards Main North Road today.
Staff soon realised the pair had escaped through a damaged fence panel and ran to their rescue, however the incident is now the subject of multiple investigations.
READ MORE: Qantas promises to honour discount flights after $15k mistake
Witnesses say the children were seconds from walking into the middle of the road before they were pulled to safety.
“This is a very bad intersection. We’ve seen multiple car accidents, it was very lucky to come out of that lightly to tell you the honest truth,” witness George Mavromatis told 9News.
“I’ve got a two-year-old and a four-year-old and yeah, just wow. Gonna go home and hug them as soon as I get home from work.”
Staff at the daycare centre said there were three educators supervising nine children at the time.
EXPLAINED: How Australia’s new ‘right to disconnect’ rules apply to you
One of them raised the alarm when they noticed two children missing, before spotting a gap in the fence.
Their quick response prevented tragedy and teachers apologised to the children’s parents.
Parents of other children at the daycare centre were shocked to learn at pick-up what had happened.
READ MORE: Charlise Mutten’s killer jailed for life over ‘shockingly callous crime’
“That’s not great,” one parent told 9News.
“But I’ll wait to see what they have to say about it, I guess, I don’t know the whole story yet.”
The centre says staff did a safety check of the play area before the children were allowed outside, however they didn’t notice the gap in the fence as it was shielded by some bamboo.
An internal investigation is under way and the Education Standards Board of South Australia has been notified.
links to content on ABC
9News
