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A 24-year-old father died in a cinema after getting his head stuck under the footrest of a seat when he tried to retrieve his phone that fell.

Ateeq Rafiq had gone to watch a film with his wife when he dropped his phone between seats. When he bent down at the end of the film the electronic footrest at a VIP cinema seat is believed to have clamped down on his head, causing him to panic and he suffered a heart attack. 

He lost consciousness after suffering a cardiac arrest as his distraught wife and mother of his two-year-old daughter watched on screamed.

Paramedics were called to the Vue Cinema in Star City, Birmingham and succeeded in restarting his heart before taking him to the nearby hospital but he tragically died a week later.

A security guard, who heard the panic over the radio and rushed to help free Ateeq, said: "I was outside the cinema when I heard shouting on the radio.

"I ran into the screen and found staff members desperately trying to free a man who was stuck on the floor. His head was trapped underneath one of the footrests and there was a real tussle going on. He was panicking when I first got there but after a few minutes he just lost consciousness and went still.

"His poor wife was screaming his name as we tried to pull him back out. It was really horrible to witness.

"It took us 10 minutes to break the footrest and release him, and another staff member started performing CPR. The ambulance arrived shortly afterwards and paramedics tried to save him. I think they managed to bring him round. I carried on with the rest of my shift afterwards but I was really shaken. I can't believe he died. It's a terrible way to go."

Heartfelt tributes have been pouring in to the young father "who had everything to live for."