Clutha tragedy
Ten people have now died as a result of the tragic events of Friday evening 29th November when a police helicopter plummeted from the sky and crashed into the roof of the Clutha Vaults pub in Glasgow city centre. The impact of this tragedy on the family and friends of those who lost their lives and were injured has been felt across the city and in towns around the west of Scotland.
The pub is a popular music venue in the Stockwell Street area near the River Clyde and on Friday and Saturday nights the pub is usually packed with people enjoying a drink with friends and work colleagues and listening to local bands.
It’s also a regular haunt for trade union, socialist and left activists who often end up at the Clutha after a demonstration, strike or other event.
Given the small size of the pub and the numbers who attend, seating in the pub is usually hard to come by. Nevertheless this adds to the atmosphere which is often lively and always friendly. According to reports there were around 120 people in the pub at the time of the tragedy. There would have been many people there who knew each other as regulars and who got to know the bar staff who were always friendly, dedicated and extremely helpful.
It appears from the film footage that the helicopter hit the roof above the left hand side of the bar which is ‘L’ shaped. This area is extremely narrow, room enough for two people at most and leads to the toilets and the back garden area.
People would have been sitting on stools at the bar and others standing around them. A trip to the loo can take a while and you may need to say ‘excuse me’ on a number of occasions before you get there. The kitchen area is also at the end of the bar and staff often work and chat with pub goers in this area particularly during their break times.
Reports describe a loud bang being heard. One witness explained that people joked that the local band who were playing a particularly loud set had ‘brought the roof down!’ The bang was followed by the roof caving in above the bar to a 45 degree angle followed by dust covering the inside of the pub making visibility impossible.
It was then that people began to support each other to the doors and into the main street. There are many reports of courageous acts where people made their way back into the pub to rescue others who, because of the dust and darkness, could not make their way out into the street.
Firefighters and other emergency services worked on site for days in the rescue operation. Making a mockery of the continual attacks on these workers pay and pensions by Westminster and Holyrood governments.
The helicopter, a Eurocopter EC135, has been extracted from the roof to be taken away for testing to reveal the reason why it fell from the sky. All types of this chopper were grounded last year by the operator, Bond, because of cracks found in the rotor hub. The European safety body ruled that daily inspections should take place prior to flights taking place.
It could be sometime before the reasons for the catastrophic event involving the helicopter is known.
The police helicopter itself is regularly seen above Glasgow, always when large public events take place but also usually hovering over the housing schemes of the city with a large powerful searchlight attached to its fuselage.
Friday November 29th will be an evening that will live long in the memory.
