Young man dies in Notting Hill street after being dragged from mansion

A young man died in the street after being dragged unconscious from the fume-filled basement of a £5million Notting Hill mansion.

The man in his 20s is believed to have been part of a team renovating the house whilst its owners were away on holiday with their young children.

His colleagues watched on in “extreme distress” as medics rescued him from the property and battled to revive him for 30 minutes performing CPR on the pavement.

Despite their efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene in Berkeley Gardens at 4.36pm on Tuesday.

A woman, said to be his wife, was seen sobbing as she sat next to a police tent placed over his body.

His co-workers who remained at the scene until late last night were too distraught to comment.

Residents in the road said they had smelt “awful” fumes coming from the property as renovation works continued inside and outside.

One neighbour, 40, said: “The whole area was cordoned off there was so many police, fire brigade and ambulances.

“We went upstairs and looked down and the whole area was surrounded.

“The family that live there are away on holiday. It was definitely a worker who was doing the renovations.

“There was a woman was sitting on the floor outside in floods of tears. We were really worried when we heard it was to do with chemicals.

“We live very near it and we were coughing. We’ve been smelling the awful stuff for days now, it’s indescribable.

“We were warned there was going to be work going on before they went away but it’s such a tragedy.”

Another neighbour added: “There was a woman sitting next to his body in floods of tears frantically making phone calls, police told us it was his wife, I feel awful for her.”

A Met Police spokesman said the victim had been carried out into the street due to concerns about fumes from the basement of the building.

"Officers believe they know the identity of the deceased. Enquiries are underway to trace next of kin."