A man working on a building site in Parsons Green died after falling ill while operating a crane.
Firefighters and paramedics gave emergencey First Aid to the man stranded 20 metres high, but were unable to save his life.
The incident happened on New Kings Road on Monday (December 14) at around 10.30am. The man was lowered on a fire engine’s hydraulic platform, but pronounced dead at the scene.
Bruce Milani works at BMG Scooters on the road, and witnessed the attempted rescue.
He told Getwestlondon : “Our shop is right next to the building site. The first I knew something was wrong was when a fire engine pulled up outside and stopped in the middle of the road.
“ Firefighters started to climb the crane. Then more and more turned up and about five paramedic teams also turned up. Two of them were equipped with mountaineering equipment and there were loads of people going up and down the crane.”
He said the man had collapsed in a gangway near the operating cabin, meaning emergency service were working in an extremely restricted space. He said: “It was a very tight space they were working in. I don’t know how they managed it but there was a real cluster of bodies up there.
“I could see them trying to give CPR up there. They put managed to put him on a hydraulic platform and were still giving him CPR on the way down.
“It was a big operation, they were there for two hours.”
A spokesperson for London Ambulance Service : “Every effort was made to resuscitate the patient at the scene, but despite the best efforts of the crew, a man died at the scene.”
Fire crews from Fulham, Chelsea and Paddington fire stations attended the incident. They arrived at 10.35am and left at 12.24pm.
A spokesperson for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) : “We are aware of this but it is not a matter for the HSE as the death appeared to be natural causes.”
