Baby crushed as roof collapses

Five tons of rubble and lead fell from the roof

A baby girl was crushed to death after the roof of a row of terraced shops and a restaurant collapsed on a busy shopping street.

West Midlands Police said the 10-month-old suffered serious head injuries after five tons of stone and lead fell on top of her.

She was in a push-chair at the time and her mother and another woman suffered injuries as they walked past the building in West Bromwich.

Passer-by William Hackett pulled the baby from the rubble and she was taken, along with her mother and the other woman, to Sandwell General Hospital, but she later died.

The incident happened at the junction of High Street and Bull Street just after 1100 BST.

Birthday party

Trevor Ford, from West Midlands Ambulance Trust, said the two women suffered arm injuries and were in shock.

I checked her pulse, but I couldn't find anything, but I didn't want the lady to have to see William Hackett

Mr Hackett, of Dawes Avenue, West Bromwich, was also treated in hospital for shock.

He said: "It hasn't sunk in yet.

"I removed the rubble by hand to try to rescue the child

"I'm a first-aider and I checked her pulse, but I couldn't find anything, but I didn't want the lady to have to see, and I told her that an ambulance was coming.

"I just wish there was something more that I could have done, but there was nothing, no way."

It is believed the baby and her mother were on their way home from a shopping trip for her nine-year-old's sister birthday party, which was supposed to take place on Saturday afternoon at the local Pizza Hut restaurant.

'Busy area'

Andy Grosvenor, of West Midlands Fire Service, told BBC News Online more people could easily have been injured.

"On a Saturday morning it is a very busy area with shoppers," he said.

"While our sympathies go out to the family of the three people involved, it is fortunate more people were not walking past at the time of the incident."

He added structural engineers would be carrying out an investigation to find out why the roof of the building, which houses Indian restaurant Shalimar, collapsed.

"The rubble has to be removed then the building made safe before we can get inside. It may be that part of the building has to be demolished."

Tejab Uddin, co-owner of the Shalimar restaurant for the past 20 years, said a steel beam had been inserted in the structure about eight or nine years ago and described his shock at events.

Mr Uddin said: "I am really surprised that there was only one person killed and three people injured because people pass in front of our shop in their hundreds, especially on a Saturday."

Fencing now surrounds the corner of High Street and Bull Street where the incident happened and more than five tons of debris have been cleared away.

The area around the building has been cordoned off and drivers are being advised to avoid the centre of West Bromwich for the next few days.