Cinema customer died after becoming trapped under chair, inquest hears

A cinema-goer died after becoming trapped under a reclining chair, an inquest heard.

Desperate attempts were made to release Ateeq Rafiq, 24, but he suffered "catastrophic" injuries in the freak accident at Star City in Birmingham.

The dad-of-one had gone to the Vue Cinema with his wife on March 9, 2018, and bought tickets from a machine for seats in Gold Class, screen 17.

The couple, from of Ettington Road, Aston, picked C5 and C6 with Mr Rafiq sitting in C5.

At the end of the film he realised he could not find either his keys or his phone and suspected they may have slipped down the side of the seat.

Area coroner Emma Brown told the Birmingham inquest jury that it was a reclining seat which had a footrest which pulled up, reports BirminghamLive.

"He got up off his seat with the footrest in the raised position and went under the seat," she said.

"Very quickly the footrest started to come down on him.

"Mrs Sardar tried to hold it up when she realised what was happening."

Mrs Sardar alerted staff who tried for about 10 to 15 minutes before releasing Mr Rafiq.

The coroner said they could not get the buttons which operated the footrest to work.

Paramedics arrived at 7.55pm and Mr Rafiq was taken to Heartlands Hospital where he died on March 16 after suffering a hypoxic brain injury.

The coroner said the inquest would be looking at the mechanical cause of how he became trapped, plus any adjustments or alterations that had been made post manufacture to the footrest.

Wife's statement

In a statement Ayesha Sardar described her husband as a "loving father, son, husband and friend.

"He was always happy and positive and took every day as it came.

"He had a brilliant sense of humour and the greatest of hearts.

"There is not a day that goes by when we do not think of him.

"He is now a beautiful memory for his three year old daughter."

Watch: What is an inquest?

Describing the tragedy, she said her husband had used her mobile phone as a torch to look for his phone and keys.

She said at one point his whole body was under the seat with only his legs visible.

"The footrest started to come down trapping his neck. He called out in pain," she said.

"I continued to get the footrest off. This was trapping my fingers.

"I then noticed there were no lights displayed on the control panel at the side of the chair.

"I realised I needed to get help and I ran outside Gold Class."

After trying to get help Mrs Zardari went back into the cinema ."I noticed his breathing was very bad. It appeared as if he was suffocating."

Mrs Sardar said she found one member of staff and after about five minutes others arrived.

She said she had asked whether her husband was breathing and that when they did pulled him out, his body was blue.

The inquest continues.

 

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