Newport, Melbourne: Community mourns boy, 9, who died after becoming trapped in garage door
>
The horrific way the garage security door killed 9-year-old boy in a freak accident while he was playing with his buddy – while his devastated father bursts into tears when he reveals what happened
- Nine-year-old Abdul Razack Tarawaley from Melbourne was crushed by a garage door
- Abdul and a friend held a metal door as it swung up with the boys on it
- Both were crushed on a low metal grate as the arch of the door reached its apex
- Abdul’s friend, a 12-year-old boy, is in hospital in a serious but stable condition
Horrifying new details have emerged of how a nine-year-old boy was crushed by a metal garage door while playing with his friend.
Abdul Razack Tarawaley and a 12-year-old neighbor held the door as it swung up and lifted the boys off the ground at the South West Melbourne apartment complex on Saturday night.
When the gate reached the top of its arch, the couple was crushed between the heavy door and a metal grille overhead.
Abdul Razack Tarawaley (pictured) was crushed between the heavy door and a metal grille over the head
The young boy and his friend held onto the bars of the gate as it swung up and carried the boys flat on it until it held them under a metal grid hanging from above
They were pinned there when they were seen by Abdul’s father, who is also called Abdul Razack Tarawaley.
Several other residents of the apartment complex on Mason Street in the western suburb of Altona North had also noticed the boys and tried to free them.
“I thought they were playing hide-and-seek, but when I get there, I see blood pouring out of my son’s mouth,” Tarawaley told Seven News, bursting into tears.
Then the other boy said ‘Help me God, Help me God’.
‘I checked the head and I checked the fingers (Abdul’s). Everything is cold.’
Mr Tarawakey had told his son that he could play with his friend for 30 minutes.
“30 minutes is forever,” he said.
Abdul Razack Tarawaley, pictured here with nine-year-old Abdul, his only child, came to check on his son and found him pinned between the open door and an overhead grille
The children did not have a key to the garage, but activated the gate by pressing an emergency opening button on the interior wall of the apartment complex.
The button may have been pressed by another boy who was part of the trio.
Family friend Alvic Jones asked why the door, which was fitted a year ago, didn’t have an unlock or override function.
“It should get a quick release if it gets a bit of tension,” Mr. Jones said.
Emergency services rushed shortly after 7:30 PM with paramedics desperately working on Abdul, but he could not be rescued.
Abdul’s friend was freed and rushed to hospital, where he remains in a serious but stable condition.
Emergency services rushed just after 7:30pm with paramedics desperately working on Abdul
Melbourne’s Altona North community mourns Abdul’s death, with the boy much loved
Mr Tarawaley said the beloved nine-year-old dreamed of becoming a doctor.
“He’s so cute, he’s so sweet and I miss him so much,” Mr Tarawaley said.
“God gives and God takes, so we just have to accept it.”
He said his only child, who would be celebrating his tenth birthday in two weeks, loved football and playing with friends.
Abdul was in fourth grade at the local elementary school in Newport.
Mr Tarawaley described Abdul (pictured) as a ‘sweet’ boy with dreams of becoming a doctor
On Sunday, the family had received a torrent of tributes for Abdul on Facebook.
“My heart aches at such sudden news. Find it so hard to believe. You will be in my heart forever, my Ju,” someone wrote.
“It’s very painful. I’m just in shock, pain and grief,’ another shared.