The tree surgeon who died after his chainsaw “kicked back” into his neck was left dangling at the height of around 21 feet.
Gregery Bulbuc, 31, died following the tragic accident in a private garden in Bermondsey, south east London.
A neighbour who saw his hanging body said: “He was probably at the same height as that three-storey building over there.”
Bulbuc who worked for company Aralia Tree Services had a one-year-old son and was a week away from celebrating his 32nd birthday.
Police and paramedics rushed to the scene but were unable to save him.
A neighbour called 999 after she saw the young Romanian “slouched and hanging” from the tree.
The woman, who did not wish to be named, said: “It was before lunchtime.
“My daughter was going out, she saw him and she said: ‘You need to come out Mum, there’s a man in the tree.’
“I looked and he was slumped over and hanging.
“I’d come out about twenty minutes earlier and I had heard the noise of the chainsaw.
“But you could tell it wasn’t cutting anything, it was just on.
“It was either wrapped around him or hanging from the tree or something, but it was just making that noise.
“I thought he had been electrocuted or something, but I thought he was dead.”
After dialling 999 she added: “Whilst I was there and waiting for the ambulance, his friends, or whoever he was working with at the time, put a ladder up against the tree.
“I remember one banging the ladder against the tree. Then he went up the ladder and went to get the man to bring him down.
“Another was standing on a roof nearby. The man was taken down to the garden. It was horrible.”
Fighting back tears Gregery’s brother Ioan Bulbuc, 27, who also works as a tree surgeon, said: “He was the perfect brother.
“He was a dad, he has one boy who is one-year-old. We lived together in the same house in Beckenham.
“We are both Romanian and my brother was here from around 2001-2002, a long time.
“He had been working as a tree surgeon for ten years. He was always so happy. He was so happy to have a little boy.
“Gregery’s birthday was next week, he was such a happy person.”
Bulbuc added: “The police have told me nothing. His boss has told me that he cut something and the chainsaw kicked back.
“It rebounded onto the neck and he didn’t fall down at first because of the rope.”
He added: “I was working on a tree myself. I got a phone call, it was horrible.”
Forensics continued to scour the scene hours after Bulbuc’s horrific death, placing a white tent over his body.
Witnesses reported seeing “a lot of blood” after the incident, at around 11am on Wednesday.
Miles Marvin tweeted: “Poor man come to earn some money and won’t even make it home tonight.
“Tree surgeon had a serious accident, not sure of what actually happened but I saw a lot of blood.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Police were called to Banyard Road in Bermondsey, SE16 at 11:11hrs on Wednesday, 15 February to reports of an injured man.
“Officers, the London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance attended.
“A man, believed to be in his 30s, suffered a neck injury. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Next of kin have been informed.
“This is believed to be a workplace accident and the Health and Safety Executive will be informed in due course.”
London Ambulance Service sent a Hazardous Area Response Team.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called at 11.07am on Wednesday to reports of an incident at an address on Banyard Road, SE16.
“We sent an ambulance crew, a single responder in a car, a paramedic on a motorcycle, an incident response officer and our Hazardous Area Response Team to the scene. We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance.
“Sadly, despite the extensive efforts of our crews, a patient died at the scene.”