The woman cyclist crushed under the wheels of a coach in east London during the morning rush-hour in Whitechapel yesterday has died, police have confirmed today.
Now detectives investigating the death of the 32-year-old woman are appealing for witnesses to contact them who saw what happened just before 9am in Whitechapel High Street, at the traffic light junction with White Church Lane, opposite Osborn Street.
The woman was treated by paramedics and ambulance crew before being taken to the nearby Royal London Hospital, but died later.
Passengers on the coach were evacuated as police closed off the A11 while investigations got under way. The woman’s bicycle lay crumpled under the coach.
James Holdsworth, from Mile End, was on his way to work passing the accident spot outside the John Cass art college where the cycle lane merges with the rest of the traffic flow.
“People crowded round a coach,” he told the East London Advertiser. “I heard people telling the driver to stop when he was trying to move the coach off of whatever he had hit.
“I realise there was a mangled bike and an unconscious person’s legs under the coach.
“People were sobbing – it was quite surreal.”
The woman’s next-of-kin have been informed. A post-mortem examination and formal identification is to be held at Poplar Mortuary.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said today: “There would have been people around at the time. We are appealing to anyone who witnessed the incident or the events leading up to it to come forward.”
The driver of the coach stopped at the scene. He was not arrested.
The accident happened where the CS2 ‘cycle highway’ running along the A11 merges with the rest of the traffic at the lights with White Church Lane, heading west towards Aldgate and the City. It had only been opened last year by the TfL, aimed at making bike riding safer in London.
Anyone with any information is being asked to contact he Serious Collision Investigation Unit on 020-8285 1574, or via Twitter @MetCC
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