It was 8:20 pm when the helicopter took off from a Glasgow helicopter on a call out. The crew aboard the helicopter were involved in the search for a suspected trespasser on the railway lines one mile south of the crash site. The bar where the incident occurred was hosting an event with a capacity crowd of 120 within the audience. It was 10:25 pm when the helicopter crashed into the pub on it’s way back to base. It’s been confirmed that there were no emergency transmissions from the pilot prior to the tragic accident, so it is unclear exactly how the incident took place and the cause is yet to be determined. As it stands over thirty people were injured and nine victims have been announced dead following the strange event on that Friday night. All three pilots on board the helicopter died among six others who were in the bar. One eyewitness claimed that there wasn’t a fiery explosion. It just seemed like the helicopter “fell like a stone and the engine seemed to be spluttering” at the moment. The tragedy also came on the eve of Scotland’s national festivities of St. Andrew’s Day.
125 firefighters responded immediately to the scene, but it was the nearby citizens who made it there first. Witnesses weren’t running away, they were running towards to help any way they can. There was also many search and rescue firefighters in attendance to shore up the unstable parts of the building and to help excavate collapsed areas from the scene. A large area around the Glasgow city center was cornered off while the rescue operation was underway. People rescued from the scene were initially taken by the emergency services to a nearby hotel to be treated for their injuries.