Sad warning to all Aussies after 21yo’s death
The horrific final moments of a 21-year-old student have been revealed, leading to a warning to all Australians.
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A community leader has issued a strong warning to “all Australians” after the horrific death of a 21-year-old student in Sydney.
Pakistani national Haider Ali was killed after the e-bike he used to earn a living and build a better life in Australia exploded in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Fire crews rushed to the scene at 5am and contained the fire to one bedroom, however, Ali was unable to escape.
Mr Ali died while five others managed to escape the house fire in Guildford — in Western Sydney — which is believed to have been sparked by a lithium battery of an e-bike.
Now, his community is warning of the potential dangers of lithium batteries for all Australians.
“A very strong message to all Australians, please do not use any sort of substandard bikes which use lithium charging... please stay away from these charging things”, President of the Pakistan association of Australia Hamid Saroha said.
Bruce Mcpherson, a neighbour opposite the impacted house said neighbours saw him standing outside the home — used as a share house for students.
“I heard this almighty big bang, and I come out the back door in my bed attire, and there is just a great big plume of smoke pouring out the roof”, Mr Mcpherson said.
“The neighbour over the road said to me, that there was a guy standing at the front all on fire, burning, burning, and he died...he couldn’t be saved, he died on the way out.”
Babar Anwar, who worked with Mr Ali at an Indian restaurant in Auburn, was grieving at the scene along with other friends, and lamented that the very thing that Mr Ali needed to earn a living, ended up killing him.
“You can’t even think, you know, you work all day long, and then you go home thinking to get some rest,” Mr Anwar said.
Mr Ali used the e-bike for Uber and Doordash deliveries to try and support himself in a foreign country.
Mr Anwar said it felt like a “lesson of god” and that if it was “because of the battery” there must have been “some sort of negligence”.
Now though, Mr Ali’s friends are concerned about how to get his body back home for his family to say goodbye.
“He has come from a very humble background, he’s a middle class person,” Mr Anwar said.
“All these students, they have their families overseas. I’m not sure what actually happened last night...but everyone has a desire, and a wish to see their loved ones one last time”.
However, shipping a body overseas is an expensive task.
“One thing is for sure, he has passed,” Mr Anwar said. “So next thing you do, as early as possible, is to send their bodies back to Pakistan, so their mom, dad and loved ones can say goodbye”.
He hopes investigations will find who is at fault for the death, but said they will also organise a GoFundMe to raise funds.
Colleen Elchan, the next door neighbour who first alerted emergency services, was woken up by the initial explosion.
“I woke up hearing explosions, really loud, and then when I walked into my dining area, I’ve got two windows there so through the blinds, the flame was lighting up my lounge, my dining area,” Ms Elchan said.
“When I looked through, I saw the house was caught on fire, and I immediately called emergency services.
“I did see two of the people who were in the house..trying to put out the fire with the hose”.
She said emergency services arrived minutes later, and the situation seemed to come under control, but then responders found out someone was still inside.
“I heard somebody scream out to the paramedics that there was somebody in there, that’s how I knew,” Ms Elchan said.
According to a Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry the fire was mostly contained in the bedroom of the deceased, and the cause of the fire does not seem to be suspicious.
Mr Dewberry also said the state of the body is “not good” and it will be up to others to determine if it can actually be shipped overseas.
After investigations, the police will hand the site back to the occupants, who are renting the property.
The owner is set to attend the site on Wednesday evening.
28 lithium-ion battery fires have been reported to NSW authorities since the start of this year. Lithium battery fires seem to be becoming increasingly common, 323 incidents were reported last year, 272 in 2023, and 165 in 2022.
These occurences are extremely dangerous, in 2024 similar incidences caused 26 people to be injured and 876 evacuations in NSW alone.
‘Unaware’: Fatal warning on e-bike boom
E-bikes have become the hottest new form of eco-transport, particularly for young ones.
They’re fun, fast, fashionable and relatively affordable.
But their rapid rise has also led to a surge in serious injuries and even death.
The issue isn’t just reckless riders, those who flout road rules, dumping of bikes and illegal modification.
But sensible riders who abide by the law and are still being caught in dangerous situations.
Surge in e-bike injuries
Across the country, reports of e-bike injuries are skyrocketing, particularly involving children and pedestrians.
A string of incidents in Queensland has garnered national attention.
Last month a five-year-old boy in Tugun on the Gold Coast was allegedly hit and dragged under an e-bike travelling at 40 km/h. The young boy spent four days in Gold Coast Hospital after the accident.
Last year the state recorded eight deaths related to personal mobility devices, including e-bikes and e-scooters, quadrupling the number from the previous year, with more than 3000 people presented to 26 emergency departments.
Victoria has also seen an extremely worrying spike in e-bike and e-scooter accidents and deaths. According to the latest report from the Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit (VISU) in September last year: “In Victoria, in the six-year period 2017/18 to 2022/23, there were 1680 ED presentations related to e-scooter injuries, 534 related to e-bike injuries and 564 related to (electronic) self-balancing device injuries.
“In this time period, e-scooter injury rates increased from 0.3 to 14.9 per 100,000 population, e-bike injury rates increased from 0.2 to 3.4, and self-balancing device injury rates remained stable around 1.5 to 1.6.”
Fractures, to the upper limb, wrist, elbow, account for the most common injuries, followed by head and neck injuries, according to the report published in Monash University’s Hazard magazine. Males aged 15-24 were the most likely to be injured in an e-bike accident.
Major gap in e-bike injury data
However, experts warn that the numbers don’t tell the full story. Accurate, available and detailed data is limited due to inconsistent reporting.
Even VISU’s report acknowledges this: “The scope of this Hazard is limited to an analysis of Emergency Department presentations data sourced from the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset, and a fatalities report provided by the National Coronial Information System”, it reads.
And their study only covers deaths up until 2020.
“In the five-year period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2020, there were 14 deaths reported to an Australian State or Territory Coroner where an electric e-micromobility device, including e-bike, e-scooter and electronic self-balancing device, contributed to the death
Seven of the 14 deaths were related to e-bikes); 7 deaths were in Queensland and 5 in Victoria (by jurisdiction of investigation); 6 deaths were in the age group of 35–44 years; 5 were females.
Often, e-bike injuries are grouped with other road users: motorcycles, bicycles and e-scooter therefore making it difficult to track its use, correlates of it and any injury or harm from it.
Even the leading institute whose research focuses on Personal Mobility Devices, the Jamieson Trauma Institute, does not collect e-bike data because e-bikes do not fall under that definition in Queensland as per the Transport and Main Roads rules for Personal Mobility Devices.
The University of Melbourne Associate Professor of Urban Resilience and Mobility Dr Haghani said accurate data is “extremely important” and the fact that Australia does not collect this data is a “major gap”.
“Without data and evidence, policy decisions will end up being influenced by whoever shouts the loudest,” he said.
“Only through the lens of accurate data can we develop nuanced, well-informed policies. Otherwise, we’re just relying on trial and error, which is risky.”
But even small scale studies indicate the massive scope of the issue.
According to a research project led by St Vincent’s Emergency parts of which were released in February last year: “clinicians found that more than 500 e-bike riders in the past two years, have wound up in Emergency rooms requiring critical care as a result of a road incident”.
The larger findings detailed in that report with be presented at a trauma conference in Sydney next month.
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Originally published as Sad warning to all Aussies after 21yo’s death
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