Melbourne: A 22-year-old Indian student working as an Uber Eats driver in Australia was killed after his bike collided with an SUV in Sydney, a media report said. Akshay Deepak Doultani, a Mumbai native studying for a master's degree in Australia, was killed in a car accident last week in New South Wales while working as a food delivery driver, the media reported.
Doultani received a scholarship in finance at Macquarie University and came to Australia in February. He worked as an Uber Eats delivery rider at least three times a week to cover his expenses. He was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital after the crash but died hours later, the report said.
“The only reason why he wanted to come abroad was not (just to) have a good life but to provide more amenities for his family,” his cousin Pratik Kamath was quoted as saying. With Doultani’s death, the number of food delivery riders killed in Australia since 2017 rose to 12, according to the Transport Workers Union.
“Akshay’s tragic loss is another reminder of how dangerous the gig economy can be, where workers are forced to push themselves to the limit just to make ends meet,” Labor senator for New South Wales Tony Sheldon posted on social media platform X.
Uber Eats stated that it was committed to the safety of its delivery drivers and that it had rules in place to improve road safety. "In Australia, Uber Eats delivery people are covered by a support package designed specifically for them," according to a company spokesperson mentioned in the paper.