Pedestrian seriously injured by sofa falling 130ft from luxury London hotel

A man has suffered serious injuries to his head and face after being struck by a sofa that fell from the roof of a luxury hotel in central London.

The pedestrian, who is in his 20s, was walking past the W hotel on Wardour Street, near Leicester Square, just before 9am on Friday when a metal-framed outdoor sofa fell 130ft to the ground.

Police said the man was taken by air ambulance to Royal London hospital in Whitechapel and was in a critical but stable condition.

A Met police spokesman said: “At this early stage it is believed he was injured by a piece of furniture which fell from scaffolding.”

A passer-by told the Sun that the victim “looked like his face had been ripped off”.

A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “We treated a man at the scene for a major head injury and took him as a priority to a major trauma centre at a hospital in central London.”

A W hotel spokesman said the piece of furniture belonged to one of the private apartments on the top level of the building, the Sun reported.

The private rented W Residences are managed by property company Knight Frank.

A spokeswoman for Starwood Hotels, owner of W Hotels, said it was aware of an incident at the Swiss Centre, which houses W London Leicester Square.

Police and health and safety officers from Westminster council are investigating the incident.

Courtesy :The Guardian/Reuters