A ROAD in Weymouth was closed as the air ambulance used it as a landing pad.

Dorchester Road in Weymouth was shut for nearly an hour yesterday morning as paramedics tried to save the life of an elderly resident.

The road closure started at the junction of Radipole Lane, and traffic from Dorchester was diverted down Radipole Lane.

Dorset Police blocked off the other end of Dorchester Road by Manor Roundabout and diverted traffic along Greenway Road to allow the Air Ambulance to land.

Ambulance and first responder paramedic units arrived at a house on the road at about 10.30am yesterday morning.

An eyewitness said that shortly afterwards the red air ambulance arrived at the scene and landed in the middle of the road.

Neighbour Paul Brailsford said: “The first I heard about it was when I heard the helicopter flying very low over the houses. It was only when I went into the road I saw that the road was closed.”

He added: “The air ambulance landed and first response paramedics car was outside. They seemed to come in and out of the house.

“It didn’t seem like they took anyone up in the air ambulance.”

A spokesman for Dorset Police said that the casualty, believed to be a 75 year-old man, died at the house at 11.07am.

He said: “We received a call from a woman at 10.28am to say a man had collapsed at an address on Dorchester Road. We arrived at 10.42am and blocked off the road so the helicopter could land.

“The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the coroner has been informed. There are no suspicious circumstances.”