Tragedy as car smashes into building

A car driven by a man who is believed to have suffered a heart attack crashed into a building in Blackheath.

It is thought the man, who was in his 60s, died last night.

He lost control of the Volkswagen Golf that smashed through metal shutters in the front of the building which was a former shop.

The car failed to stop at the junction of Malt Mill Lane before ploughing into the building.

The ambulance service was called to the scene by a member of the public.

John Hawker of West Midlands Ambulance Service said: "We were called to Long Lane at 7.25pm, where a man, believed to be in his 60s was in cardiac arrest. An ambulance, rapid response vehicle and incident support officer attended the scene.

"He was transported to Russells Hall Hospital on blue lights where rescuitation attempts were carried out."

The man believed to have died has been named locally as Amin Zahid, a former chariman of the Blackheath Jamia Mosque Trust.

He is believed to have been attending evening prayers before the crash, leaving at 7.20pm.

It is unclear whether anyone else was in the car at the time. Shahbaz Ahmed, aged 33, came out of the mosque after the crash took place to see what had happened.

He said: "It was chaos. There were load of people surrounding the car. People were trying to see what had happened." An ambulance car arrived and people were trying to do CPR. It was all very traumatic.

"Amin was a lovely person who got on with everyone. He was very passionate about the mosque."

Mother-of-two Rachelle Robinson, aged 36, was in the building at the time.

She said: "I looked out of the window and saw the car. Everyone was running and screaming everywhere."