The Hussainzada extended family are grieving for a beloved mother and seven-year-old son who drowned in Dandenong Creek’s stormwaters while visiting a Doveton park.
The pair were found more than a kilometre downstream near Allan Street bridge.
Saleha Hussainzada, cousin of the 33-year-old Fariba Hussainzada, has told Star Journal that Farzad, the eldest of Fariba’s three children, sprinted out the car as his mother opened the door.
“She told her mother to look after her other two children and she will go after Farzad.
“Her four-year-old is asking for her mother, questioning she went to the hospital why isn’t she back yet?”
As Fariba’s mother looked on, she lost sight of the two after the bushes near Dandenong Creek.
She called her other daughters, oblivious to the incident, relaying what had happened.
Ms Saleha says her cousin, an extremely caring and loving mother, sacrificed herself for her son.
They were pulled unconscious from the water at Allan Street.
Police officers performed CPR at the scene, but the pair could not be revived.
Victoria Police believe that the woman had “went to the aid of the child and also got into difficulty”.
Both Fariba’s mother and sister had to be taken to the hospital as they fell unconscious, stricken with unexplainable grief.
Fariba’s sister, in shock and unable to speak, had forgotten what had happened.
Fariba leaves behind her four and one-year-old kids, husband Hamid Hussainzada, mother, sisters and a large extended family.
“My father (Fariba’s uncle) is very strong. I’ve never seen his tears, he always tells me to be strong, but from that incident onwards he is crying every day,” Ms Saleha says.
“They are like his own daughters, since their father passed away in Afghanistan before they came to Australia.”
Ms Saleha says this tragic incident “shouldn’t have happened.”
“It’s got nothing to do about not knowing how to swim. I know a lot of people in our Afghan community lack swimming knowledge as is the case in other CALD communities but this is a wider safety issue.”
She says the Doveton park, without any fences to the creek, should be reviewed by City of Casey Council.
“The area (near the creek) is very steep so even without rain, anyone can easily slip and fall.”
A further three people have drowned at Dandenong Creek in the past 18 years, including a three-year-old boy at Dandenong Park in 2014 and a 12-year-old boy in 2008.
In 2016, a cyclist on Dandenong Creek Trail near Eastlink crashed and drowned in the waterway.
City of Greater Dandenong Council installed a tall 25-metre fence at the Dandenong Park after the drowning of the three-year-old Ishnael Baqaie, but it was later said to be not long enough by then-councillor Matthew Kirwan, as reported previously.
Other areas surrounding the large Dandenong Park remain without a fence, including a walking trail just above the creek.
Dandenong SES unit controller Daniel Pastean has filmed videos warning people to stay well clear of the waterway, even when it appears to be a benign trickle.
“I filmed those videos when the creek was at high volume. But generally it’s not a safe place to play or be near.
“I urge people not to go near the water’s edge or the levee banks, which have been engineered to keep the water within the banks and not into streets and people’s homes.
“When you go down near the edge, people are putting themselves at risk.
“The banks are mostly grass, sodden with water, with unstable footing – it’s easy to get caught up in and to fall over as well.
“The water is not exactly fresh either.”
Greater Dandenong Council held a minute’s silence at its meeting on 10 November, hours after what mayor Jim Memeti termed a “terrible tragedy”.
The community, Dandenong MP Gabrielle Williams and La Trobe federal MP Jason Wood passed their condolences to the Hussainzada family in social media posts.
Police will prepare a report for the State Coroner.
Any information on the incident to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or crimestoppersvic.gov.au
