A 16-YEAR-old youth being chased by a gang plunged seven floors to his death from a block of flats, with witnesses saying the thugs may have stamped on his fingers until he fell.

Police in Hackney, east London, said 16-year-old Ahmed Benyermak was trying to escape the gang of masked youths by climbing down the outside of the building.

Witnesses said he may have feared he was about to be attacked with a knife.

Scotland Yard said the youth climbed down six floors on the outside of the tower block but when he reached the seventh floor his path was blocked by a metal grille and he fell.

Neighbours said Ahmed was with friends when he was chased by a gang, some of whom were carrying knives.

Police and paramedics found Ahmed on the ground before 4pm local time yesterday. He died at the scene.

A post-mortem examination showed he died of a ruptured aorta.

Horrified residents suggested that the gang pushed Ahmed off the balcony, or even stamped on his hands until he lost his grip.

Ahmed, who had been due to pick up exam results yesterday, had just gone to his school to see when they would be ready.

But he and his friends ran into the bike-riding gang who began chasing them.

Ahmed and his companions thought they had given their pursuers the slip by running into the tower block but as they looked down from the 13th floor balcony, the gang spotted them again.

Ahmed's group fled but the teenager became separated from his friends, the Mail said.

Relatives in his close-knit family - of Moroccan origin - described him as a quiet boy who rarely went out of the house.

His aunt, Fatima Benyarmak, said: "He was a loving and caring child.

"He got along with everybody. He never really went out, he wasn't that sort of kid. He was very happy and looking to the future."