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At least eight people were killed late Friday after a police helicopter crashed into a pub in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, Police said Saturday.
The dead include two police officers, a civilian pilot and five others who were in the Clutha bar in Glasgow when the helicopter came through the roof of the lively city nightspot, which was packed with more than 100 people listening to a band, Xinhua reported citing a Sky News report.
A rescue and recovery operation is continuing at the premises, which suggests that people may still be trapped in the building, said the police, adding that 14 people remain seriously injured in hospitals in Glasgow.
Three of the dead were two police officers and the civilian pilot of the helicopter, Chief Constable Stephen House of Police Scotland said. Five more victims had been inside the pub.
Fourteen people remain seriously injured in Glasgow hospitals, House said. Earlier, police said 32 in total were taken to local hospitals.
Glasgow police early Sunday announced that one body had been removed from the building, with more still inside.
House said he expected the recovery operation to continue for “many days.”
Authorities offered no theories on the cause of the crash.
Police Scotland used its Facebook page to appeal to the public for “any photographs, audio or video footage they have of the incident or surroundings areas.”
Smart was on top of a six-story parking deck when he heard a gargling sound “like a car running out of petrol but incredibly loud.”
“I looked around, and in front of me, between 500 feet and 1,000 feet in the air, I could see a helicopter in distress. And then suddenly it just completely lost power and fell from the sky like a stone and tumbled over, nose over tail,” Smart said.
From his vantage point in front of the pub, Smart could not see the helicopter after impact.
“What I did see, and it’s something that will stick with me for the rest of my life, was Glaswegian people running toward the scene, not away from the scene, people running to help, not running away from what could have been a huge explosion,” Smart said.
Agencies
