Australian boy, 13, killed sleeping in bin after friends unable to alert garbage truck driver in time

Driver of the rubbish truck was unaware that there was a boy in the bin, while he was tipping the lorry

Representative: A garbage truck is pictured as it drives around town picking up residents bins as they are filled with burnt debris on 6 January 2020 in Wingello, Australia (Getty Images)

A 13-year-old Aboriginal boy in South Australia was crushed to death by a rubbish truck early on Tuesday after he fell asleep in an industrial bin that was being emptied.

The driver of the truck was unaware that there was a boy in the bin, said police.

According to the authorities, the boy along with two others, aged 11 and 12 was sleeping in the bin which was collected around 5:30am in Port Lincoln.

“As the bin has been lifted, one of the boys has managed to scramble out. However, the other two appear to have been tipped over with the bin as it’s lifted up into the truck,” Superintendent Paul Bahr told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“One of the boys has survived and been relatively unhurt. However, the other boy has suffered fatal injuries as a result of that tip and has died at the scene.”

Calling it a “really terrible event”, Superintendent Bahr said that by the time the truck driver was alerted that there were people in the bin, it was at that point of being too late to stop the skip tipping.

He further added that it was unclear at the moment why the boys were sleeping in the bin and that “this is the first time” they have become aware of it.

“Port Lincoln has an issue with homelessness, like every community, and from time to find we do get rough sleepers, but we are not aware of children sleeping rough.”

SafeWork SA, a state institution responsible for providing work health and safety across South Australia, said that they are “making enquiries into the incident” as they offered condolences to the boy’s family and friends.

Calling it an “unfortunate accident” Brad Flaherty, the mayor of Port Lincoln issued a statement and said that it would be a very hard thing for the community to deal with.

“It’s something that we’ve got to come to terms with over the next couple of weeks. But, I think one of the things that we have to do in the community is make sure that we’re supporting the families. We just be there for them,” he was quoted as saying by the Guardian.