A Roxburgh Park boy who was buried and killed by heavy snow on a family holiday to Mount Buller died of suffocation, a court has heard.
Seven-year-old Haadi Javed was on holiday with his parents and two sisters in June when snow, which police believe fell from a building roof, engulfed his body.
At the first directions hearing of an inquest into his death on Thursday, counsel assisting Coroner John Olle, Kate Hamilton, said that an autopsy by Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine pathologist Dr Paul Bedford later found asphyxia to be the cause of death.
Ms Hamilton said the family left their children to play in the snow outside Hima Lodge for about five minutes while they went inside to change their clothes.
About 4.45pm that day, the couple realised their son was missing. After searching for him for about 15 minutes, they called police.
The police looked for Haadi for an hour before they found him about 6.30pm. The boy was taken to the Mount Buller Medical Centre, where attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.
Ms Hamilton read a summary of Dr Bedford’s findings to the court.
Dr Bedford said deaths in alpine regions were rare. He said a person buried under snow was more likely to survive if extracted within 10 minutes.
Haadi had been less likely to survive because of his size and age, with hypothermia developing more quickly in children.
Dr Bedford said the boy had probably been knocked from behind into the snow.
A coronial brief will be handed to Coroner Olle by January 24.
This story first appeared in The Age
