Construction workers build scaffolding at the site of a new apartment tower in Sydney
Construction workers build scaffolding at the site of a new apartment tower in Sydney November 30, 2012. Reuters/Tim Wimborne

Erwin Makafana, an 8-year-old boy, died at a construction site in Sydney. He was playing on the slabs when the accident took place.

Erwin was playing at the Sydney Tongan Seventh-Day Adventist Church's property in Leppington. While he was on the slabs on Tuesday, some parts of the concrete slabs slipped, and he was crushed. Police were called to the construction site located on George Road as the child was taken to hospital in crucial conditions. When he was taken to Liverpool Hospital, the emergency services had treated him at the site, but the boy was pronounced dead. The parents of the child were at the church while the accident took place. Erwin was playing with other children in the five-acre property of the church.

Sitiveni Fine Teaupa, a Sydney Tongan Sevenadventh-day Adventist Church pastor, said that he was "devastated" by the accident. He said that the entire community was heartbroken. "There is nothing more precious to us than our children," Yahoo News quoted him.

Teaupa said that all work on the church hall construction site had been suspended until a thorough investigation is completed. He asked everyone to keep the family in their prayers and thoughts as everyone was in deep shock. Police are working on a report for the coroner. NSW police said that a thorough investigation would take place on how the accident might have occurred.

The brother of the deceased child said that his brother always had a smile on his face. He said that he would always miss his brother who was with "heaps of energy." The 17-year-old brother, Alalate, helped construct a fence around the church property. His father was also with him when the fence was built.

Alalate said that one of the men had been heard calling out that someone was trapped. Daily Telegraph said that when he ran down there and saw that it was his brother, he started crying. He said that his brother was "a joker" who had loved sport and "never sat still." Erwin's family belongs to the parish, and Erwin had spent a lot of time playing in the church premises while it was being built.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@IBTimes.com.au