Eerie silence as littered metal bears witness to a disaster

Debris lay strewn across the Wandsworth Road where hours earlier horrified witnesses watched the helicopter plummet to the ground.

A dark VW Golf, its windscreen blown away, stood yards from chunks of wreckage.

Indistinguishable pieces of metal littered the ground and apparent remnants of the aircraft lay charred on the tarmac.

Some distance away, a grey Range Rover stood with its bonnet open, apparently abandoned.

A cluster of fire engines were stationed inside the police cordon partially obscuring the scene, their lights flashing in the silence.

Further back, the warped frame of a crane hung broken amid the fog.

The Tower, One St George Wharf, where the helicopter crashed, is close to completion and will be one of Europe’s tallest residential buildings.

Work on the 594ft, 51-storey skyscraper is due to finish this year and all the apartments are reportedly already sold.

The building will offer 223 flats, including two penthouses, and will offer what developer St George called “a privileged lifestyle” for those able to afford the millions needed to buy the hi-tech apartments.

Work started in 2010 on the building, which is part of a wider Thames-side development incorporating a million square feet of luxury apartments, shops, offices and restaurants, as well as proposed health and fitness facilities.

There is a river promenade, including the River Walk, which allows access along the Thames past Westminster to the Tate Modern. But the size of the building has been controversial, with the scheme going all the way to a public inquiry following the refusal of Lambeth Council to approve it.

Designed by the Broadway Malyan architect practice, the firm behind the University of Leeds Law School, the tower will incorporate a wind turbine.