More tragic news in the circumstances surrounding Eli Marnock’s death.
The two-year-old, who died when a 30-metre gumtree fell on his family’s home in Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges at the weekend, has been identified as Eli Marnock.
The toddler was sleeping in his cot when the tree fell around 9pm on Saturday night. Emergency services rushed to the home but were unable to save the boy, who died in his cot a short time later.
The tree that fell was on council property and had been reported multiple times to the Yarra Ranges Council by Eli’s Grandfather, John Surridge, amidst community concerns for safety, The Herald Sun reports.
Neighbours have expressed their frustration that action, which may have prevented the boy’s death, was not taken sooner.
More information here: WATCH: Saturday’s news in 90 seconds.
Eli’s entire family were in the house when the tree fell – including both his grandparents, his mother and her partner, and his siblings. It took emergency services almost an hour to get four of the family members, who were trapped under the collapsed roof of the family home, to safety.
Eli’s sister Nicola, 5, was also injured by the falling tree and was rushed to the Royal Children’s Hospital to be treated for injuries to her leg, chest and face. She remains in a stable condition and has been moved out of intensive care.
Neighbours said that the tree was located on the council strip of Hillandale Road, despite appearing to be on the driveway of the home.
One neighbour of the family, Dennis, said he could hear the storm coming from “miles away”.
“It sounded like a freight train, but it was over in 30 seconds,” he told The Herald Sun. “We knew straight away the son was missing … the dad was in distress. It’s just a tragedy.”
A Yarra Ranges Council spokeswoman, Tracy Varley, said the council was continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the tragic incident, including following-up on the requests to inspect the tree.
“We have had staff come in to scan our system to see if we have had any reports for that property, but so far we haven’t been able to identify any,” she said. “But we will continue our investigations.”
This was one of three major incidents reported by Ambulance Victoria on Saturday night when a storm ripped through Victoria with winds of up to 130 kilometres per hour. A 50-year-old woman from South Yarra and a 40-year-old man from The Basin also sustained minor leg injuries in the storm.