A man has been run over by a construction digger on a busy north London high street.
The 70-year-old man was crushed under the Volvo vehicle on Kilburn High Street after the crash at 11.30am on Thursday.
The 61-year-old driver was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
Pictures from the scene show police erecting a cordon outside a Franco Manca on the corner of Belsize Road.
The yellow construction vehicle with a mechanical claw is surrounded by police tape with a forensic tent erected just in front.
Harjeet Shekarpouri, 21, was working in Fone Vape opposite the crash scene.
He told Metro: ‘It was horrible, there was screaming and a woman shouting ‘move’ to the driver.
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‘The poor man was underneath. People were crying. I’ve never seen anything like that, I can’t get it out of my head.
‘There was no blood I could see but there’s no way he could have survived it, that digger weights tonnes.’
The road remains closed as investigators trawl the scene to establish how the incident unfolded.
They are collecting CCTV from businesses and council cameras.
Christopher Todorov said: ‘There was screaming and shouting directly after.
‘There were a lot of people around. Luckily I wasn’t with my kids but there were children crying. People nearer than me said the guy walked in front of the digger.’
A mum-of-two who works in a nearby cafe said: ‘We heard a wall of noise, there was cars beeping and people screaming. Then all the emergency services raced in.
‘It was proper carnage.’
Rush hour traffic around Kilburn has been diverted including buses, causing long tailbacks.’
A Met spokesman said: ‘Police were called to reports of a road traffic collision between a heavy plant vehicle and a pedestrian on Kilburn High Road.
‘Officers attended the scene alongside the London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance. Sadly, the pedestrian, a 70-year-old man, died at the scene.
‘The driver, a 61-year-old man stopped at the scene. He was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and taken into police custody, where he remains.’
Police are now appealing to the public for any information about the collision, including dashcam footage of the collision.
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