Melbourne father reveals how son, 9, died in freak garage door accident

Abdul Razack Tarawaley, 9, died after becoming trapped in a garage door. Photo / @Abdul Razack Tarawaley, Facebook

Warning: Distressing content

Gruesome new details have emerged about the tragic final moments of a boy, 9, who died when he was crushed by a garage door in Melbourne.

Abdul Razack Tarawaley was playing with a friend at the apartment complex where the freak accident unfolded in Newport about 7.30pm.

The two boys were holding on to the gate when it swung upwards and crushed them between the door and a metal grate.

Abdul’s father, who shared his name, thought the boys were playing hide and seek but found them trapped metres above the ground.

Through tears, he told Seven News his son’s fingers were cold when he found him and the second boy – who is in hospital in a serious condition – was saying “Help me God!”

“I was thinking they are playing hide-and-seek but when I get there, I see blood,” Tarawaley said.

He said the children did not have a swipe key for the garage door but may have activated it by pressing an emergency open button.

Tarawaley said he had given his son permission to play with his friend for 30 minutes when the unimaginable happened.

“Thirty minutes is forever,” he said

He told the Herald Sun he tried to pull the gate down when he found the boys but couldn’t because it was “too big, it’s too heavy”.

Emergency services were called to reports two boys were trapped in the door on Mason St about 7.30pm.

Abdul was treated at the scene, but could not be saved.

The second child, who has not yet been identified, was taken to Royal Children’s Hospital in a serious condition.

Tarawaley told reporters at the home on Sunday his son was just weeks from his 10th birthday, and had dreamt of being a doctor.

“He touched our life,” he said.

“I miss him so much. Even in school, he was the smartest. He loved to play soccer.

“It’s really hard. The grief is real, my only child, we have nobody else.”

A little boy has been crushed to death after he and a friend became trapped while playing on a garage door in Altona North.

Devastated family and friends tried to free the children but it was too late for the 9-year-old, his father witnessing the tragedy. @Elisabeth_Moss9 #9News pic.twitter.com/gZRnHsTBkb

— 9News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) November 13, 2022

Tributes were fast-flowing on Tarawaley’s Facebook page on Sunday, with more than 200 sharing their sympathies in the space of just hours.

One shared their love for “Junior”, thanking the boy for “so many memories”.

“My heart aches with such sudden news. Finding it so difficult to believe. You’ll forever be in my heart my Ju,” they wrote.

Another wrote: “It is very painful. I’m just in shock, pain and grief.”