CCTV has captured the moments before and after a 17-year-old boy fell about 30 metres to his death from Hibernian House in Surry Hills, inner-city Sydney.
Emergency services were called to the heritage-listed building in Elizabeth Street at about 9pm on Tuesday after reports that someone had fallen to the street. The teenager suffered critical injuries and died at the scene.
It is understood the boy had been balancing on a rail when he fell. Two friends who were with him were not injured, but were treated for shock.
Footage from inside the five-storey warehouse shows the three teenagers, all carrying backpacks, entering the top floor. Only two are seen leaving moments later.
During a triple-0 call, one of the boys could be heard saying: “Ambulance! You have to get down here now, I think he died.” Another voice then repeated: “Ambulance, ambulance!”
Police were later filmed using flashlights as they examined the upper level and the surrounding scene. Officers are treating the death as a suspected tragic misadventure, and investigations are continuing.
Hibernian House is known as one of Sydney’s most graffitied buildings and is a popular creative arts hub. The site is understood to be easily accessible to unaccompanied minors.
However, the teenagers are understood to have had permission to enter from a tenant who leases space in the building.
One tenant said: “There’s a lot of businesses in this building, so lots of people coming and going. It’s not overly hard to get in.”
The tenant added that young people were drawn to the building by its artwork, saying: “I don’t think it’s an issue of security; it’s an issue of curiosity.”
