Helicopter tragedy was ‘like scene from action film’

Residents and commuters told how they heard a loud bang and a flash of light as debris scattered across the sky and the twin-engine aircraft hurtled to the ground and burst into flames just yards from Vauxhall station.

Mother-of-five Sharon Moore, who lives on the Wyvil Estate, said she saw the aircraft slice through a fog-shrouded crane on top of the St George Wharf skyscraper “as if it was a piece of paper”.

Ms Moore, 36, who was with her nine-year-old daughter Tiah, described hearing four bangs and watching two cars explode.

“My daughter was so traumatised, it was so shocking,” she said.

“It sounded like a massive explosion, like something whining in the sky and then it just went bang.

“You couldn’t see a lot at first because of the fog. The helicopter did not seem to know which way to turn and then it just dropped, it sliced, screeching into the metal.

“It sliced it as if it was a piece of paper. It just ripped apart.”

She described watching police, who arrived “in seconds”, trying to pull people out of burning cars and seeing what appeared to be body bags.

“We saw someone pulled out and they were covered,” she said, adding the incident was “like something out of an action movie”.

When he heard the collision, Stephen Swan, who lives in St George Wharf, thought the nearby MI6 building had been attacked.

“We heard a big crash, the bang, and then we got up and went out on the balcony. We thought something terrible had happened at MI6, it was scary,” he said.

“I’d just watched the film Skyfall not so long ago, and seeing that place [MI6] pretend blown up I thought, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?’”

Ray Watts, 45, a driver for Sheffield Insulation, described how debris rained down on his van as he was delivering panels to the new building and the falling crane hit his vehicle.

“There was a big bang when the helicopter hit the boom of the crane and there was another when it hit the ground and blew up,” he told Reuters.

“I just ran. I was scared and legged it. I didn’t know which way to run because there were bits everywhere.

“I ran towards the station and there were still bits raining down.”

Mr Watts said motorists on Nine Elms Lane had a lucky escape when the crane fell across the road after the traffic lights turned red.

“If the lights were green the traffic would have gone through and it would have been a different story,” he said.

“I feel quite lucky too. If I hadn’t stopped to talk to the security guard I would have been in the truck and I’ve been told the crane hit it. I think I’ll buy a lottery ticket today.”

Nic Walker was in bed at his house near the crash site when the helicopter came down.

“I flung open my window and looked out to see fire across the street,” he said.

“I pulled on some clothes and ran out to help. There were two people injured on my side of the fire. I think one was a motorcyclist. One seemed to have an eye or brow injury.

“I ran down with a guy to check the car. No driver, but we couldn’t get close enough to see the back. I took a guy down to check the car was empty but had to pull back from fire and explosions.

“That car was later gutted by the fire. There were secondary explosions going on so we had to get back. It was smokey as hell too.”

London Fire Brigade station manager Bruce Grain, one of the first firefighters at the scene, said it “was absolute chaos” as nearby homes and businesses were evacuated but revealed the fire was put out within 20 minutes.

Six fire engines, four fire rescue units, a number of other specialist vehicles and 88 firefighters attended the scene of the crash, a few hundred yards from the future American embassy site.

Around 60 police officers also attended the scene.

Commander Neil Basu, of the Metropolitan Police, said it was “something of a miracle” more people had not been killed or hurt in the incident.

The force and the fire service are now working with other agencies including the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and the Civilian Aviation Authority (CAA) to investigate.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said lighting of cranes and tall buildings will be reviewed, but that it would be “premature” to second guess the investigation.

Prime Minister David Cameron thanked the emergency services for their “rapid and professional response”.