St Lucy’s School, Wahroonga lift tragedy: Child, 10, killed after being crushed by lift, identified as ‘sweet’ boy – as details emerge

EXCLUSIVE

A ‘beautiful’ student who died after being crushed by a lift at a special needs school was an only child who is believed to have had a fixation with lifts.

Sanad Shahriar, 10, became trapped under a lift in an old St Lucy’s School building in Wahroonga, on Sydney’s Upper North Shore, about 2pm on Wednesday.

In dire situations, the emergency services tried to remove Sanad from the elevator, but despite their efforts, he died on the spot.

Sanad was the only child of Hasan Shariar, an engineering manager, and Dr. Yasmin Haque, a general practitioner, who works at a local medical center.

Sanad was the only child of Hasan Shariar and Dr. Yasmin Haque (photo)

A Facebook group of alumni of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) announced the sad news on Thursday.

“It is with an extremely heavy heart that I announce that the only son of our BUETian brother Hasan Shahriar (EEE’96) passed away yesterday in an incident at school,” the message said.

“Please pray for sweet little Sanad and Hasan Shahriar and Doctor Yasmin.”

Police are investigating whether the elevator, which was located on the ground floor of the school’s Veritas building, was defective.

The school was reportedly raising money to upgrade the Veritas Building, a 1970s building, with new facilities. St Lucy’s declined to comment.

Detectives are investigating whether the elevator may have malfunctioned, causing the doors to open before the elevator was ready for use.

The precise circumstances of how the incident occurred are not clear, and investigators hope CCTV will prove what happened.

Emergency services were called to Wahroonga School in Sydney’s Upper North Shore at around 2pm on Wednesday

Flowers and cards have been collected outside the school as the community copes with the tragedy

Tributes piled up at the front of St Lucy’s, which houses both primary and secondary school pupils with autism, sensory impairments and mild to severe intellectual disabilities.

Bouquets and handwritten cards were seen stacked on a table set up outside the reception on Wednesday afternoon, with one note reading: “Rest in peace dear boy.”

Laminated heart-shaped cards made by students from St Edmund’s – a neighboring special needs school in Wahroonga – were hung at the gate, with condolences to the students and teachers.

Pictured: Heart-shaped cards made by students from St Edward’s School were seen lining the gate on Wednesday

‘Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this sad time. We express our condolences and hold you in our hearts,” the cards read.

SafeWork NSW and NSW Police are investigating the tragedy, with inspectors and officers patrolling the school on Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for SafeWork NSW said it has been “made aware 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 on Wednesday, the school went into lockdown, with about 230 primary and secondary students confined to their classrooms.

Parents were notified at around 2.30pm that there was a ‘medical emergency’ and were told that the collection of their children would be delayed.

The school will remain closed indefinitely due to the investigation.