An art studio stores sculptures and granite and marble slabs outside the buildings on company premises, which the path passes. When asked, police said the ten-year-old had apparently climbed on one of the slabs. This fell over and buried the boy underneath.

His companion immediately called for help and told the ten-year-old’s father, who was still in the area, and others about the accident. People in a nearby fitness studio also rushed to help and were able to free the boy. The rescue services also arrived a short time later, treated the child and took him to hospital. However, the schoolboy died there from his injuries.

Police secured evidence and put up a large fence that now encloses the accident scene and the company premises. The Bonn public prosecutor’s office must now examine whether the owner of the slabs should be investigated because negligent action or omission during the storage could have led to the accident. The storage area is separated from the footpath by an embankment with undergrowth and a wall. However, the wall exhibits a several metre wide hole near the stored stone items.

A similar tragic accident occurred a year and a half ago in Hückelhoven near Mönchengladbach. There, a two-year-old boy climbed onto a tipper wagon on the premises of a mining museum, which suddenly tipped over and fell on the child. The little boy died of his injuries in hospital.

The educational establishment, which the ten-year-old was on his way to, has published a death notice on its website; “Last Friday, a child died in a tragic and incomprehensible accident while on his way to us,” it says. “We are shocked and stunned. We mourn with the parents and family for a wonderful boy.”

(Original text: Rüdiger Franz. Translation: kc)