Plea for Coventry air crash witnesses
Aug 18 2008 By Michaelm Corley
STUNNED emergency service workers have vowed to launch a thorough investigation after Coventry and Warwickshire suffered one of its worst air disasters.
The mid-air collision, which claimed five lives, sparked a massive search-and-rescue operation which covered a three-mile radius between Coombe Abbey and Binley Woods.
Speaking just a few hundred yards from where debris had landed on Brinklow Road, Det Supt Adrian McGee, of Warwickshire Police, said yesterday: "How they collided and how they came to the collision we still do not know.
"Our main aim now is to recover the bodies as quickly as we can.
"Then we will conduct a thorough investigation. "We already have witnesses and two sites of debris to check.
"But we need more witnesses, and we appeal to anyone who saw anything to contact us."
He confirmed that both pilots had been in touch with Coventry Airport's air traffic control just moments before the disaster happened.
Mick Leach, incident commander of Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "At the moment our thoughts are really on getting the task done.
"Clearly there are a lot of people who are going to get some very distressing news.
"
Our priority is that we can retrieve the bodies as quickly as possible and that those relatives can be notified and can have time and privacy to mourn their loss."
He added that specialist equipment, including lifting, cutting and lighting gear, had been called in to help with the recovery operation.
Three paramedic officers, an ambulance and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance had also been sent to the scene.
Richard Topping, of West Midlands Ambulance Service, was at home in Rugby when the call came in.
He said: "We received several calls to say two light aircraft had been in a collision to the east of the Coventry Road.
"The services arrived and the situation was very confused.
"All five persons were confirmed dead at the scene."
Mr Topping said the nearest home was about two miles away from the crash site.
He added: "We were all working together - the police, the fire service, the ambulance services and the police air operation to locate the scene.
"There was significant wreckage over the area."
Emergency service workers confirmed that the single-engined aircraft came down in a field close to Coventry Road - between Brinklow and Coventry. The pilot was confirmed dead at the scene.
The other aircraft, a twin-engined Cessna, came down in Birchley Wood.
Four people, including the pilot, were confirmed dead at the scene by the doctor from the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: "The helicopter assisted the ambulance service by making it easier to find the locations of the two aircraft which were approximately a mile apart.
"Sadly there was nothing that could be done other than the grim task of confirming the deaths of the five people."