SHOPPERS and traders spoke of their shock after a man plunged to his death from Carfax Tower yesterday.

The 39-year-old man, who has not yet been identified, fell from the 13th century landmark shortly after it opened to tourists.

Queen Street and part of Cornmarket were cordoned off for around an hour as police and paramedics battled to save him.

Hollow Way resident Donald Forder said: “There was nothing to warn you that it was going to happen and then I heard it.

“The police arrived a couple of minutes later and tried to get his heart going.

“It happened all of a sudden and everyone was just shocked.”

Another shopper, who didn’t want to be named, said: “It is quite a shock for it to happen in the centre of Oxford with so many people about.”

The man was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington in a “serious” condition but died a short while later.

Carfax remained closed while police officers carried out their investigation. They said last night they were not treating the incident as suspicious.

Buses through Queen Street had to be diverted, with Oxford Bus Company re-routing its City3, CityX3, City 8 and 9, City 35 and the Park & Ride 300 services.

Stagecoach said the incident affected the “majority” of its city services.

Carla Araujo, manager of the Crabtree and Evelyn shop at the foot of the 23m-tall tower, said: “Thank goodness I didn’t hear much because I was at the back of the shop.

“I just heard the noise, came forward and I could see some people and heard someone swearing. I came to the door and I could see him.

“We had to close while the police came and they tried to save him. I am still a bit shocked by the whole thing – the noise is still in my ears.”

The last person to jump to their death from Carfax Tower was 61-year-old Patricia Stoute, from Greater Leys, who took her own life in June 2009.

Owned by Oxford City Council, Carfax Tower is a popular tourist spot attracting around 40,000 visitors a year up its 99 steps, but yesterday the council closed it “as a mark of respect”.