A 72-year-old woman died after a road accident in east London despite efforts by a doctor and a team of paramedics to try and save her life.

The team battled for half-an-hour to try and save her before the doctor pronounced her dead at the scene at the junction of East India Dock Road and Burdett Road in Limehouse at 8pm.

The A13 was closed both ways for a police investigation into the accident, believed to involve a red Peugeot car.

The car “initially failed to stop at the scene”—but returned a short time later, Scotland Yard confirmed this-morning.

The driver, a man aged 39, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He remains in custody at an east London police station.

Paramedics from the London Ambulance Service and a team from the Air Ambulance at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel were sent to the accident.

An ambulance spokesman said: “We sent a motorcycle responder and a responder in a car, as well as a duty officer and a medical team from the Air Ambulance in a car.

“But sadly, despite extensive efforts from our staff, the woman was pronounced dead at the scene by the air ambulance doctor.”

The woman’s family were later contacted. Officers from the Met Police Serious Collision Investigation unit are looking into the circumstances of the accident.