A man has died after being crushed by a telescopic public urinal he was working on in central London, police say.
Emergency services raced to the scene in London’s West End earlier today to attempt to free the maintenance worker who was trapped underneath the public toilet.
A rescue operation was launched just after 1pm between Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “We’re sorry to have to update that, despite the efforts of emergency services, the man who was critically injured in Cambridge Circus was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin have been informed.
“Cordons remain in place at the location.”
Images and footage from the scene showed emergency service workers attempting to rescue the man from the underground toilet in London’s West End.
The force was joined by fire crews, paramedics and air ambulance workers.
The man was trapped underneath the hydraulic urinal, a toilet stowed below ground which is brought to street level at night for people to use.
In a previous statement, police said: “Police were called at around 13:10hrs on Friday, 27 January, to a seriously injured man at Cambridge Circus, W1.
“The man is thought to have sustained crush injuries while working on a ‘telescopic urinal’ at the location.
“LFB, LAS and London’s Air Ambulance are in attendance. Officers are assisting with road closures.”
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called today (27 January) at 1:05pm to reports of an incident on Shaftesbury Avenue, Charing Cross.
“We sent a number of resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, members of our hazardous area response team (HART), members of our tactical response unit and a medic in a fast response car. We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance.”
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said four fire engines and around 25 firefighters from Soho, Euston, and Dowgate fire stations attended the scene.
LBC reports that a crane was brought to the scene as part of efforts to lift the entire structure out of the ground.
Road closures are in place through Cambridge Circus, while buses have been diverted away from the area.
Police at the scene told the BBC the closures are expected to remain in place for “a number of hours.”
The incident was over by 3.41pm, the LFB said.
