A PREMATURE tot hailed a miracle for surviving a traffic accident that killed his pregnant mum has tragically died a week after bystanders banded together to lift a school bus off her.

Sean Michael Justin Sanz had been in intensive care since he was delivered by emergency Caesarean section on August 14.

He weighed just 3lb 6oz (1.53 kilograms) at birth.

His mother, Donnette Sanz, survived the delivery but died in an emergency operating room. She was seven months pregnant.

The van hit Donnette when she was crossing a Bronx street on her lunch break.

The impact sent her flying into the path of a yellow school bus and she was pinned beneath it.

About 30 bystanders rushed to the scene and hoisted the five-tonne bus from her body in a rescue that made the front pages of the citys newspapers.

The tot's dad was mourning his double loss.

Rafael Sanz said of his tiny son: He meant everything to me. He died in my arms."

And in an interview published hours before the infants death, he spoke about how his deep love for his son was mingled with grief over his wifes death.

Horrible

Rafael said she had donated a kidney to him shortly before their wedding four years ago.

She never got to see our baby, but she was in love with him, he said.

And the dad slammed the van driver: I hope he really does rot in hell. I hope he dies a horrible death.

Relatives said the boy would be buried with his mother.

Mayor Michael Blo****erg offered his condolences to the babys father.

He said: From the moment last Thursday when Donnette was struck down, scores of New Yorkers pulled together as one to try to save her and her still-unborn child.

The bystanders who heroically rescued Donnette from under a school bus in the Bronx didnt just lift five tonnes of glass and steel - they also lifted the spirits of our entire city.

Donnette had been a civilian member of the NYPD for two years.

The 72-year-old van driver, Walter Walker, faces charges of criminally negligent homicide and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Walkers lawyer, Michael Torres, said his client had not entered a plea.

He said Walker was devastated" by what happened but didnt know whether he was aware of the childs death.

Walker has a long history of driving offences and arrests dating to the 1980s.

Police said he has had his licence suspended 20 times.

In a court filing, police said the brakes on Walkers van had deteriorated so badly it was unsafe to drive.

Walker has said he tried to avoid hitting Sanz but was unable to stop.