A 25-year-old man who died when his car was submerged in floodwaters in Sydney was on the phone to triple 0 for a whopping 44 minutes before his death.
The man, who was on his first day of a new job as “a contractor for a large commercial organisation” called for help at 6:20 am.
According to Detective Inspector Chris Laird, the man claimed his new Toyota Camry hire car was “sinking” and required assistance.
“The triple zero operator did continue to maintain contact with the 25-year-old male as he was in the car,” Inspector Laird said. “However, at 7.04 am, it’s believed contact was lost with the male. Police arrived on the scene shortly after and were unable to find the car.”
Police and SES crews searched the area extensively in the hopes of finding the man alive, however, they were unsuccessful.
At approximately 1:10 pm, police divers “made the terrible, sad discovery” of the man’s body, still inside the car, six metres underwater.
None of the windows were broken, but internal damage to the car appears to show that the man struggled to exit the vehicle.
“What’s happened is a complete tragedy,” Inspector Laird said. “The fact that he was on the phone for so long is even more tragic … a man that is possibly about to pass away, and he’s on the phone, and the water’s rising.”
Inspector Laird says this damage will form part of the inquiry into the man’s death.
“We can only speculate why he couldn’t get out of the car,” he said.
“Initial examinations show that he made all reasonable attempts, and that’ll form part of our inquiries as to why he couldn’t exit the car.
“You can only just imagine somebody fighting for their life to get out of a car … he clearly couldn’t get out.”
