Ayaz Younus was on his way to his first day in his dream job as a truckie when he died in floodwaters in Sydney’s north-west on Wednesday.
His roommate Imran Ahmad told ABC News that Younus, a 25-year-old software engineer graduate from Pakistan, was excited about the new role.
“He was really excited … he said finally, finally I got my job,” said Ahmad.
Ahman remembered his friend as ‘humble”, “hardworking” and “caring”.
Ahmad said his housemate was “a really nice person; he had a brilliant mind, would always take care of people, he was a hard worker. When he had nothing to do, he did community work.”
Younus had already signed up with his community to assist with the flood-clean up when waters receded.
Meanwhile, investigations are ongoing as to why it took so long for first responders to reach Younus.
Younus called for help at 6.20am to say his Toyota Camry hire car was sinking on Cattai Ridge in Glenorie, police said.
Broadcaster Ray Hadley has revealed the man was on the phone for three minutes and NSW Police responded in 23 minutes, not the 40-plus minutes suggested in some reports.
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys told Hadley the triple-0 operator was trying to regain contact for 44 minutes.
Worboy said the death was “dreadful” and the response times of emergency services would be investigated by the coroner, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The people at triple-0 would have dispatched the most appropriate resources, the closest resources would have gone to that location,” he said.
“We will investigate the timing around that.”
Deputy Commissioner Worboy said the road was closed at the time of the accident but the visibility of signs and gates would also be examined in a coronial inquiry.
“My understanding was that there were barriers there, some of them were underwater, some were out of the water … the sun [also] wasn’t fully up.”
The possibility that the car’s electrical system failed will also be investigated.