Birmingham crash horror: Photos plea as victim is named
Police have urged witnesses to send photos and videos of the Birmingham crash scene directly to the force – rather than share them online.
Social media giant Facebook came under fire last night for refusing to remove graphic images of the horror smash aftermath from its site.
Taxi driver Imtiaz Mohammed was the first of the victims to be named, as it emerged he died during his last fare of the night.
The father-of-six had phoned his wife to say he would be home after his last fare before the smash, according to his brother.
Mr Mohammed was described by grieving relatives as a ‘happy, loving and friendly guy’.
Six people were killed in the pile-up near the city centre in the early hours of Sunday.
Three men were killed when they were thrown out of their car while the taxi driver and his two passengers, a man and woman, died after the vehicle was left on its side.
A fourth man travelling in the car, thought to be an Audi S3, is in a serious condition at the city’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
In the moments after the crash, images and videos of the scene started to circulate.
These were posted on social media and have sparked criticism from people and police officers.
West Midlands Police Chief Inspector Stuart Bill said: “The disappointing thing for all of those who attended was the lack of humanity shown by the few that turned up and chose to film / disrupt rather than help the emergency services.”
However, Facebook refused to remove images from its website, saying in a statement graphic footage did not ‘go against any of our specific community standards’.
Police yesterday confirmed the ages of the five men and one woman who died in Sunday’s crash.
Two men, aged 42 and 33, and a woman, aged 43, were killed while travelling in a taxi which was involved in the collision.
A further three men, aged 30, 26 and 25, who were travelling in the Audi, also died.
One of those who died was named locally by neighbours as Tauqeer Hussain, whose family declined to comment.
A 22-year-old man, who was also a passenger in the car, is now in a serious condition.
Taxi driver Mr Mohammed’s younger brother Noorshad said his sibling rang his wife Nargas Gul to tell her he would be coming home just before the crash. It would be the last time they spoke.
The 32-year-old said: “It was his last job of the night.
“That was the last time she spoke to him.”
Surrounded by the 33-year-old’s other relatives at the family home, father Ikhtiar Mohammed recalled how his ‘heart sank’ as police knocked on his door at 5am on Sunday.
The 65-year-old said: “I knew there was something wrong, as soon as I saw them.
“I thought to myself, ‘which of my sons is hurt’, I just knew something was seriously wrong.”
He said that Mr Mohammed’s wife, Ms Gul, was still in deep shock while relatives struggled with how to break the news to the couple’s five daughters and son, all aged under 15. One of their girls had been due to celebrate her fourth birthday on Monday.
Older sister Nassrin Bibi paid tribute to her brother and said the family had been ‘shattered’ by what had happened.
Mr Mohammed worked for local firm Castle Cars, which said in a statement: “Imtiaz was a wonderful, young, hard-working family man”, who was “loved and respected by all”.
Sergeant Alan Hands, from the force’s Collision Investigation Unit, said: “We are still keen to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time and has not yet spoken to us.
“We are still trying to establish exactly what happened and our thoughts remain with the families who have lost-loved ones.
“We aware of distressing images of the scene circulating on social media and we would ask the public to not share them and instead pass any footage to us to assist our investigation.”
He confirmed the road had been gritted at 5pm the previous evening.
Asked about what speeds the vehicles were travelling at, and whether all of those involved were wearing seatbelts, Mr Phillips said those will be issues considered during the investigation.
The Ambulance Service, which sent five ambulances to the scene, said it was astonishing a man and woman in the first car were able to escape with minor injuries despite ‘extensive damage’ to their vehicle.
Three other cars collided as they tried to avoid the scene at the entrance to the underpass.
Of those people, two were taken to Heartlands Hospital with minor injuries.
The ambulance service said they dealt with 13 patients in total.
Lee Bank Middleway and the adjoining Belgrave Middleway were reopened by police in the early hours yesterday after investigations were concluded at the scene.
