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A businessman today told how his family cheated death after a Porsche 911 crashed into their living room.

The £100,000 sports car smashed into the front of Nazir Ahmed’s £1million Victorian corner terrace in Jubilee Street, Stepney, at high speed.

His wife Shahida Nazir, 46, son Danyal, 21, and daughter Hina, 25, had been sitting on the sofa against the wall minutes before the car became embedded in the wall.

It was only by chance that they had gone upstairs to admire some decorating they had been doing that they avoided being killed, Mr Ahmed said.

The occupants of the Porsche fled but returned five minutes later and drove it away.

A neighbour captured the dramatic footage of the front wall falling away as the car reversed and pulled off down the street.

Police gave pursuit and were seen stopping the car and wrestling the suspects to the ground at around 10.20pm on Monday.

Father-of-two Mr Nazir, who runs the Shalamar House Restaurant in Shadwell, said: “I’m just so pleased my family survived. They could all have been killed.

“Its not uncommon for them to be sitting there talking at the time it happened. Luckily they had gone upstairs and they were saved. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost them.”

Mrs Nazir said: “There was a huge bang and I looked out of the window and saw a cloud of dust and the guys running off.

“I ran downstairs and there was dust everywhere and the car was sticking through the wall. I was in shock, I couldn’t believe it.

“I thought there might be an explosion so I screamed for my children to get out of the house. My son called the police.

“It was a nightmare. We could have died - but luckily no one was downstairs. I just started crying.”

Hina Nazir, a trainee accountant, said: " Its unbelievable, I’m just glad we are all ok.”

The crash left a pile of rubble in the family’s living room, as well as part of the Porsche’s personalised number plate which snapped off in the crash.

Steel joists were put in place by emergency workers despatched by Tower Hamlets Council to stop the front of the house from collapsing.

The family were allowed to return to the four-bedroom home, where they have lived for 15 years, at 4.30am yesterday morning after it was ruled structurally safe.

Mr Nazir said he expected the repair bill to fix the damage to the house, part of a row of Grade II listed houses in the Stepney Green Conservation Area, to be at least £10,000.

“Its all going to have to be rebuilt with original materials as its a listed building,” he said.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “Police were called to Jubilee Street, Stepney, at approximately 10.20pm on August 10 to reports of a car in collision with a house.

“Officers arrived at the scene and found two men trying to flee the scene.

“They were both arrested and are in custody at an east London police station. There were no injuries.”