On the 16th of January at 8:00 AM a helicopter lost control and crashed into a crane on top of The Tower, One St George Wharf in London. Fire spread through two buildings and many cars that surrounded the area as eighty fire-fighters attempted to end the inferno.
A passer-by Matthew Wood, 39 and the pilot Captain Pete Barns, 50 were killed in the accident. Five people were taken to hospital and seven were treated at the scene. Many injuries came from falling debris.
A warning was issues about the crane in October and again on 7 January. The warning confirmed red aviation warning lights on tall structures only need to be turned on at night. This did not include bad weather in daylight hours. The crash happened 30 minutes after the time that was defined at ‘night’ which mean that the red aviation warning lights were off.
The chief executive of Redhill Aerodrome Ventures, Jon Horne said the helicopter
left Redhill, Surrey at 07:35. It was scheduled to fly to Elstree in
Hertfordshire.
Mr Horne said: “We believe it was unable to land in Elstree and was diverting to
an alternate location. The next information we had was following the crash in
south London.”
The Met told the BBC there was no suggestion the incident was linked to
terrorism.
