Even with all the death that is occurring in this country, the passing of a child under tragic circumstances is still bound to move us.

On Thursday it was a double blow, as THE STAR reported the deaths of two children, a few years and many miles apart. The first was that of Antoine Wydham, who would have turned two years old later this month. He was crushed to death when a part of the old building he was in on Wellington Street, Kingston, collapsed.

The other was that of nine-year-old Kerron Nembhard, who was killed when his head, which was protruding from a bus window, was trapped between the vehicle and a gate at the New Forrest Primary and Junior High School in St Elizabeth.

Both incidents are very sad, but there is some degree of the pervasive 'carelessness' which haunts our society, in both cases. In the second case, the driver does have a responsibility to watch out for the children in the vehicle he or she is driving, as hard as it may be to do so.

In the first, a number of children between four and eight years old were playing when the building collapsed. There was, apparently, no immediate adult supervision at the time of the incident and one can never tell what warning signs there were which the children would not have been aware of.

In the end, there will always be tragedies involving children, who are numerous and energetic. However, close adult supervision will always work to reduce the incidents of loss of young ones.