Airlift for cyclist hit by lorry as another dies

This is the moment an air ambulance landed in Kensington High Street today to help a cyclist trapped under a lorry.

Traffic came to a standstill as hundreds of onlookers watched the helicopter take the victim to hospital.

Witnesses said the man, in his twenties, was knocked off his bike and crushed under the front wheel of a lorry turning left from Kensington High Street into Campden Hill Road at about 9.20am.

Two hours earlier another cyclist received fatal injuries when he was hit by a heavy goods vehicle in Upper Thames Street.

In Kensington, among the first people on the scene were a road-maintenance crew who had been working nearby.

One of them, Steve Higgins, 30, said: "We ran down and saw he had badly hurt his leg and his side. I took a first aid course last week so that gave me the confidence to go and help him. He was getting really cold because there was so much blood running out of him so we covered him in our high-vis jackets until the ambulance arrived. I held his hand and kept asking him if he was ok and he replied 'yes' but he couldn't feel anything."

The truck driver, in his forties, was so traumatised by the accident he was sick by the roadside.

Mr Higgins said: "We heard the driver saying to the policeman that he was waiting for ages to turn left and as he did this guy went under his front wheel as he came from inside."

Tony White, a porter at the Hornton Court apartment block, said: "There's been accidents on that turning before. You get people coming up very fast."

Police said the cyclist's injuries were not life-threatening.

In the earlier accident, paramedics treated the victim in Upper Thames Street but he died later of his injuries.

Traffic was diverted onto London Bridge and a police spokesman said there would be delays for most of the day.

No arrests have been made.