EXCLUSIVE
A “beautiful” pupil who died after being crushed by a lift at a special school was an only child who was believed to have had a fixation with lifts.
Sanad Shahriar, 10, found himself trapped under a lift in an old St Lucy School building in Wahroonga, on Sydney’s north shore, around 2pm on Wednesday.
In distressing scenes, emergency services attempted to remove Sanad from the elevator, but despite their best efforts, he died on the spot.
Sanad was the only child of Hasan Shariar, a technical director, and Dr Yasmin Haque, a general practitioner who works at a local medical center.
Ten-year-old Sanad Shahriar (pictured) was tragically killed in a school accident on Wednesday
Sanad was the only child of Hasan Shariar and Dr Yasmin Haque (pictured)
A Facebook group of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) alumni announced the sad news on Thursday.
“It is with an extremely heavy heart that I announce that the only son of our brother BUETien Hasan Shahriar (EEE’96) passed away yesterday in an incident at school,” the message read.
“Please pray for sweet little Sanad, Hasan Shahriar and Dr. Yasmin.”
Police are investigating whether the elevator, located on the ground floor of the school’s Veritas building, was faulty.
The school is reportedly raising money to upgrade the Veritas building – a 1970s structure – with new facilities. St Lucy’s declined to comment.
Detectives are investigating whether the elevator may have malfunctioned, allowing the doors to open before the elevator was ready to operate.
The precise circumstances of the incident are unclear, with investigators hoping surveillance video will show what happened.
Emergency services were called to Wahroonga School, on Sydney’s Upper North Shore, around 2pm on Wednesday.
Flowers and cards gathered outside the school as the community deals with the tragedy.
Tributes piled up outside St Lucy’s Church, which caters for primary and secondary pupils with autism, sensory impairments and mild to severe intellectual disabilities.
Bouquets and handwritten cards were seen stacked on a table set outside the reception on Wednesday afternoon, with a note reading: “Rest in peace, my boy.”
Heart-shaped laminated cards made by students at St Edmund’s – a nearby special education school in Wahroonga – hung outside the front door, bearing messages of condolence to students and teachers.
Pictured: Heart-shaped cards made by pupils at St Edward’s School were seen outside the front door on Wednesday.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this sad time. We express our sympathy to you and hold you in our hearts,” the cards read.
SafeWork NSW and NSW Police are investigating the tragedy, and inspectors and officers were seen patrolling the school on Wednesday.
A SafeWork NSW spokeswoman said it had “been informed of a fatal incident at a school in Wahroonga”.
“SafeWork’s investigation is ongoing and no further comment can be made at this time.”
As the tragedy unfolded Wednesday, the school was placed on lockdown, with approximately 230 K-12 students required to remain in their classrooms.
The parents were informed around 2:30 p.m. that there had been a “medical emergency” and that there would be a delay in picking up their children.
The school remains closed indefinitely amid the investigation.
