Amazing moment 30 passers-by lift a taxi off a woman who was trapped underneath after a crash in London

 

• Woman was knocked down by a taxi while on her lunch break in the City
• Dozens of workers and tourists gathered round to lift the vehicle off her
• The victim was taken to hospital and treated for soft tissue damage

Dozens of City workers and tourists rushed to help a woman who was trapped underneath a taxi by lifting it off her and preventing her from being seriously injured.

The office worker was apparently on her lunch break when she was knocked down by the cab and pinned beneath the vehicle.

Video footage shows how 30 passers-by stopped and combined to lift up the taxi so that the woman could be attended to by paramedics.

City workers lifted taxi off woman who fell under the wheels

+4

Crowd: Dozens of bystanders helped lift a taxi off a woman who was trapped underneath

The pedestrian was crossing King William Street, near the Bank of England in central London, when the accident took place yesterday.

Eyewitness Laura Fares, a record company boss, said she was standing outside Bank station when she was told a woman had been hit by a black cab.

Seeing two paramedics and the cab driver waiting for support, she ran to one of the paramedics and asked why he wasn't trying to free the woman.

'The cab driver was just leaning on the car, waiting for more help and the paramedic said he wasn't emergency staff so needed to wait for more people,' Ms Fares said. 'They had a blanket on her and a pillow under her head.

'She looked like she was in her late twenties and she was really blue and blinking. She was sort of semi-conscious, but I could tell she was still alive.

'I said, "Aren't we going to move the car off her? She's still alive." He looked underneath the car and said that her leg wasn't too badly injured and said we could try and lift it.'

+4

Heroic: Workers and tourists helped to save the woman from serious injury after a crash

+4

Success: The woman was safe and well after the vehicle was lifted off her, and has now been released from hospital

At that point, Ms Fares began calling for bystanders to help the rescue operation.

Witnesses reported seeing workers running out of their office buildings to help after hearing the shout, 'Help, help, we need men.'

Ms Fares, 37, said: 'I started yelling at people in the street, running up to them, especially men. I was saying, "You're a man, there's a lady under the car you've got to help push."

'There was a group of Spanish tourists who I even managed to draft in to help. It was mostly men in suits - dropping their briefcases to run and help.'

'We did it in about three minutes. I was directing, telling them to pull and hold and eventually we lifted the car off her.'

Builder Michal Raczkowski, who was one of the first to reach the woman, added: 'I walked out into the street and saw the lady lying under the cab. Only her head and the top of her shoulders were sticking out, the rest of her body was twisted under the taxi.

'I called my friends and we ran over to her. One of the guys kneeled down and was telling her jokes, trying to keep her comfortable and get her to relax.

'She wasn't making much noise. She seemed like she was in a lot of shock, but she was awake and talking.

'The rest of us got around the front of the taxi and took the bumper and wheels and lifted it up and pushed it towards the pavement.'

+4

Incident: In May, 100 commuters came together to lift a bus off a trapped unicyclist 

When the car was successfully removed, the woman's legs were covered in what appeared to be black bruises, but she was still conscious.

Technology consultant Tiaan Trahms filmed the incident from the window of his office building.

'When I looked out I saw this woman under the cab, her body was twisted to one side,' he told the Evening Standard. 'Her salad was strewn all over the ground nearby.

'One guy ran into the cab to release the hand brake and everybody else worked together to lift the cab off the ground.'

The victim was hospitalised and treated for soft tissue damage, but has now been released.

A spokesman for the London Ambulance service said: 'We were called at 1.10pm to King William Street to reports of a road traffic collision.

'We sent a number of resources to the scene including an ambulance crew and London's Air Ambulance trauma team by car.

'We treated a woman reported to be in her 40s for leg and pelvic injuries. She was taken as a priority to hospital.'

The incident comes three months after a unicyclist was trapped under a bus in Walthamstow and rescued with the help of 100 commuters.