November 2009 - HART crashes as BASICS Chairman fights to save trapped man

A MAN died yesterday after being found trapped under a train at a rural Midland station with multiple injuries. The emergency services were alerted to the injured man at 6.30am Saturday morning.

Ambulances and the BASICS Chairman Mr Richard Steyn, a Concultant Cardiothoracic surgeon were dispatched to the scene. A Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) en route to the incident using blue lights and sirens crashed into a concrete pillar under a motorway bridge on the Queslett Road, Great Barr, at about 6.45am.

Two paramedics were in the vehicle, a man in his 30s who suffered head and neck injuries, and a woman, also in her 30s, who suffered a suspected shoulder injury and shock. They were both treated at Sandwell Hospital.

Another ambulance and fire crews had arrived at the station within minutes of the 999 call.

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “On arrival we found a man who was trapped under a train. He had serious multiple injuries and crews worked with the fire service to rescue him from under the train.

“Mr Steyn went with him in the ambulance to Selly Oak Hospital but he could not be saved.”

The fatal incident happened on Platform Two and involved a train heading towards Birmingham city centre, terminating at Redditch.