Man dies in roof collapse tragedy

A man died today after the roof of a three-storey building in a Black Country town centre collapsed.

The man, in his 30s, was confirmed dead by paramedics after he was discovered on the ground floor of the building in West Bromwich High Street, West Midlands Police said today.

Detective Chief Inspector Danny Long said: "At the moment we can't tell what time this person died or where he was in the building when the roof collapsed.

"Obviously the roof went through not just the first floor but through to the ground floor.

"We don't know how far he fell. We can't say at this stage."

Four men were rescued from inside two flats which collapsed on an estate agents in the early hours.

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West Midlands Fire Service area commander Tony Prosser said: "We have two floors and a roof collapsed into the ground floor. Part of the roof collapsed taking the gable ends of the building and the chimney breast with it.

"We rescued four people, two through the lower levels, one through the roof and we carried out a protracted operation to rescue a man who was stuck under the chimney breast.

"They've all been taken to hospital and luckily seem to have quite minor injuries.

Aerial views of the scene depict a scene of devastation after the building collapsed on on itself. Three tons of rubble fell through the building, but the cause of the collapse has still not been identified. None of the four rescued men were thought to have life-threatening injuries, but were taken to hospital to be checked over.

Fifty firefighters were at the scene this morning.

A remote control drone fixed with a camera was used to try to work out the structural damage.

The two flats situated above Bairstow Eves estate agents on the first floor of the building flats virtually disintegrated under the force of the collapse which happened at about 12.30am.

A police cordon was expected to remain around High Street up until late this afternoon.

Mr Prosser said the operation was at a critical point for fire officers who have been carefully shoring up what is left of the roof which is currently balanced precariously on top of the building.

He added: "It is very dangerous for our fire officers inside, we have to make sure they are as safe as possible.

"We're doing things here that we haven't done since the Second World War, building tunnels through rubble and shoring up buildings. It's a very delicate operation."

It is believed up to 400 people were evacuated from the neighbouring Shaftesbury Casino, which was forced to close down an hour-and-a-half early after the fire service shut down the power to buildings along High Street at around 2.45am as they dealt with the incident.

West Bromwich High Street remained closed between Carters Green and Shaftesbury Avenue.

Ross Basford, 32, who lives three doors away from the collapsed building in a flat above Clive Basford hairdressers in High Street, said: "It was about 12.30am and I was up working on the computer when the building started to shake.

"I thought it was an earthquake but it was much more powerful."