Dying boy’s tragic last words after horror crash at primary school

A FATHER who helped lift a car off a schoolboy after a fatal crash in southwest Sydney has described the heartbreaking moment.

A NEIGHBOUR who tried to help save a boy killed when a car ploughed into a primary school has described the tragic aftermath of the fatal crash.

The man, who has a daughter at the school, helped three tradies lift the Toyota 4WD off an unconscious boy while another man pulled the child out from under the vehicle.

Meanwhile, the neighbour said, he could hear another injured boy lying nearby calling for his mother.

“He was saying ‘I want my mum’,” the man told the Daily Telegraph . “She wouldn’t have got to see him before he died.

“He had a big gash in his head.”

Two boys, both aged eight, died following the crash and three girls were badly injured.

Witnesses who rushed to the scene after hearing the commotion described seeing kids screaming for their parents in a scene of “carnage”.

Students told of the panic after the out-of-control Toyota Kluger driven by a 52-year-old woman smashed into a weatherboard building at Banksia Road Primary School in Greenacre in Sydney’s southwest. The woman has now been charged.

It took four men to lift the Toyota Kluger off an unconscious boy at Banksia Primary School in Greenacre. Picture: Hollie Adams/The Australian

Tarik, a student in 3T, said: “The car crashed into the room … I saw one of my friends faint … I started crying. It sounded like a big pop”.

The two boys were declared dead when they arrived at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. The eight-year-old girls were transported to the same hospital in a stable condition, and one nine-year-old girl was also taken there in a serious condition.

Student Remas Shebhavalvem, 9, who is in Year 4, was visibly upset when she came out of the school. She was told her friend in Year 3 had a broken leg.

“I heard a bang in the classroom and we thought it was nothing. But then the teachers came and screamed at us to leave everything,” she told News Corp Australia’s Canterbury-Bankstown Express.

The car smashed straight through the classroom. Picture: AAP

She said she was “super scared” especially when she noticed one of her friends hadn’t emerged from the ruined classroom.

Isaac Tayba, who rushed to the school where his nephew is a Year 3 student, said it was a tragedy to see what happened.

“It was a difficult moment, we all left our jobs and rushed here,” Mr Tayba said.

“You’ve got mothers over there fainting, you’ve got paramedics dealing with all the mothers and everyone is just nervous that it’s their child.”

“Apparently I think she (the driver) drove in there and instead of maybe pressing the brake, she might have hit the accelerator.”

Police from Bankstown Local Area Command and Metropolitan Crash Investigation Unit are investigating and have established a crime scene.

The female driver, 52, was uninjured but has been taken to hospital for routine blood and urine tests. On Tuesday afternoon police confirmed she had been charged with dangerous driving occasioning death, driving in a dangerous manner and negligent driving.

She was granted conditional bail to appear at Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday, November 29.

Students leaving with their parents from Banksia Road Primary School in Greenacre.

Police and paramedics at the scene in Greenacre.

The school is notifying parents to pick their children up. Police are asking parents who are collecting their children to attend the Boronia Rd school entrance.

A tradie called Paul was one of three tradesmen who helped lift the front of the Toyota off one of the injured children. They then performed CPR.

“It wasn’t just me, there were a lot of people here helping this morning,” he said.

Khaled Arnaourt told Fairfax what he saw when he was one of the first to arrive at the scene.

“I heard a loud bang but I didn’t take much notice of it. I was just about to hop into the car to get going and then I heard kids screaming. My daughter goes to that school. I ran across the road there was a big hole in the building. Teachers and everyone were just running around. There was blood and kids on the floor, just lying down and screaming.”

Many local parents took to Facebook to beg for answers as they rushed to the scene. One distressed mother said she hadn’t heard from her child and feared the worst.

Another parent tried to calm her.

“My husband is there if the parents have not been called it means that their child is ok, the parents or the children being affected has been notified, please don’t stress,’ she posted.

One woman summed up the mood of many in the community: “Imagine sending your kids to school not knowing they’ll never come back. How heartbreaking. I can’t imagine what the parents must be going through.”

More to come.

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