A KOGARAH mother-of-two is lucky to be alive after she was hit by a garbage truck while pushing her son in a pram.
Deepmala Thakur was metres from her Baxter Lane home unit with her youngest son Krish, 2, on the morning of July 18 when the SITA truck hit them.
"We were walking up the lane to go shopping and there was a stationary garbage truck on the left of the lane," Mrs Thakur said.
"I had a look and it was stopped so I started to walk past."
As Mrs Thakur was alongside the truck she said it began moving again.
"I screamed 'stop' and pushed the pram away from the truck, but I couldn't save my leg," she told the Leader.
Mrs Thakur said she felt terrible pain in her leg, but wanted to check her son had escaped unharmed.
"Once the driver realised, he jumped out," she said.
"He went over to the pram, which had been tipped over, and then came to help me.
"He was very good."
Mrs Thakur was taken to St George Hospital, where she was treated for a large cut and broken leg.
She remained in hospital for three weeks and will need at least six months away from her job as a customer service operator at Coles.
"My whole life has been changed," she said.
"I can't go anywhere by myself."
Her husband Dheeraj Thakur had to change his work hours to care for his wife and two children.
Rockdale Council referred Leader inquiries to SITA.
A SITA spokeswoman said the company was treating the incident "very seriously" and was assisting St George police with their investigations.
"SITA takes safety seriously and safety is a key consideration for our business, whether it be the safety of customers, employees or the general public," she said. "Our business invests considerably in a range of safety initiatives and developing the safety culture of our workforce.
"At this time the investigations are still ongoing and we are unable to comment further on the circumstances surrounding the incident.
"Once the authorities provide their findings we will assess those to determine whether we need to initiate any corrective action, in accordance with our standard practice."
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