Australian boy, 13, crushed by bin lorry after sleeping in bin

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, The three boys were sleeping rough in the South Australian town of Port Lincoln

A 13-year-old boy was crushed to death by a rubbish truck after falling asleep in a bin in Port Lincoln, Australia.

The driver was unaware anyone was in the bin until it had already been tipped into the back of the lorry.

Two other children, aged 11 and 12, were also sleeping in the industrial bin, but one managed to escape while the other survived with minor injuries.

An investigation is now under way into why the three young boys were sleeping rough, police told local media.

Jo Clark, CEO of West Coast Youth and Community Support in South Australia, told the Port Lincoln Times that all three boys were "frequent visitors" to their centre and were known to staff.

She said the boy who died "wasn't homeless, he was a young person, who like many young people struggled to navigate young adulthood and find their place, and for a variety of reasons was sleeping out".