Man killed as building collapses

The man's body was located by sniffer dogs

A man died when a block of flats collapsed in the Black Country.

The incident happened above an estate agent's office in High Street, West Bromwich, early on Wednesday.

The man's body was found and later recovered after sniffer dogs were sent in. Two men were rescued and taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Two others made their own way out of the three-storey building. Police said that the weight of the collapsed roof caused the floors below to give way.

Det Ch Insp Danny Long said officers believed they knew who the man was and had contacted his family.

I heard a loud bang and then there was like a rumbling which seemed to go on for ages Russ Basford, eyewitness

He said paramedics declared the trapped man dead several hours after the building collapsed.

The cause of the collapse is unknown and police said it was too early to say if there were suspicious circumstances.

The property is a terraced building, with a Bairstow Eves estate agents on the ground floor and residential addresses on two floors above.

All neighbouring properties were evacuated and all shops in the street closed.

'Really bad'

Russ Basford, 32, who lives three doors away from the scene, said: "I heard a loud bang and then there was like a rumbling which seemed to go on for ages.

"We had an earthquake around here a few years back so I thought we were having another one. Everything was shaking."

Mr Basford said he went outside to see what had happened and saw a man kicking at the estate agent's metal shutters from the inside.

He said: "Me and another guy went round the back to try and get in. There was no way we could lift the shutters.

"The man was shouting that he was trapped under something.

"The guy I was with got in through a back window and saw the man who was trapped but he said he couldn't get him.

"When he came out he said it was really bad inside."