The scene in Suke Street yesterday

A PEDESTRIAN is seriously ill in hospital today after rescuers pulled him from underneath a bus.

Shocked witnesses recalled seeing the man crushed beneath the vehicle in front of a building site close to the Waterfront.

The man, who is believed to be a construction worker and in his 30s, has been left seriously injured by the collision.

Emergency services were called to the junction between Duke Street and Pownall Road at 10.38am yesterday, after receiving reports of a single-decker bus in collision with a pedestrian.

Police closed the road for several hours, closing access to the junction entirely, while officers tried to establish the cause of the crash.

Fire crews from Princes Street and Colchester Road Fire Station attended the scene and helped free the man from under the bus.

A spokeswoman for the fire service said: “One male casualty was trapped underneath a bus, high pressure air bags were used to release the casualty.”

The air ambulance was initially asked to attend, but was later asked to stand down.

Three land ambulances and two rapid response vehicles attended the scene and the man was taken to Ipswich Hospital.

A spokeswoman for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “When we arrived on scene the casualty was conscious and breathing.”

One onlooker said: “It looked serious, the bus has spread across all three lanes. Screens were being held up.”

Another witness, pizzeria owner, Bayram Karabulut, said: “I just felt shocked and heartbroken - even more to see him breathing under the bus and unable to do anything.”