SteveStrummerUK
 
The poor guy was obviously in shock mate, just sort of going through the motions. He looked to me like he was (understandably) completely sort of 'somewhere else', numb almost.
 
He said he'd seen his father in the wreckage, and it seemed to me that he must have been in the pub, or close by, when it actually happened. He even said he "already knew" his dad might not have survived because the main impact was directly over his favourite 'spot' in the pub.
 
But it sounds like he must have been ushered out before too long because he had to ring up the emergency hotline in an attempt to find out for certain if his father had died. They told him they didn't know but he could expect a call back tomorrow. It was at this point he had to tell the operator that he'd already seen his dad in the wreckage. I know they must get a lot of worried people ringing up but I got the feeling that this poor guy should have been under the care of someone at the scene, not having to ring up a bloody emergency line.
 
And it seems like the BBC have been shadowing him all night and all morning with a view to being there when the bad news is confirmed. Awful.

That's horrendous.

Hi,
 
We can't say that the Helicopter was trying to smell all the dope in there so they could arrest someone, so it makes me wonder what a police helicopter was doing on top of a bar, unless they knew that some dope deals were done on top of the roof of the building?
 
The "coincidences" are just too weird and off the wall!
 
Either that or these guys were playing Chuck Yaeger? And they lost and didn't have their slide ruler with them! (If you never read that, you must ... fun book and lots of hilarious moments, but none more surreal than the slide rule moments!)

I'm guessing that the helicopter simply lost power and that the pub just happened to in between them and the ground.

Moshkiae
 
 
it makes me wonder what a police helicopter was doing on top of a bar
 

 
It fell, out of the sky.
 

craigb
I'm guessing that the helicopter simply lost power and that the pub just happened to in between them and the ground.

Exactly Craig.
 
The cause is unknown, but there is speculation that the pilot was trying to do a forced landing in a nearby patch of wasteland close to the pub.
 
I was just talking to my friend in the police force who said that the rotors on those choppers are designed to keep working by inertia even if the engine cuts out, and yet witnesses say there was no sound of the rotors turning, the whole thing just came down like a stone.

jamesg1213
I was just talking to my friend in the police force who said that the rotors on those choppers are designed to keep working by inertia even if the engine cuts out...

Yes, that's called the autogyro effect.  If that didn't happen, then probably something broke in transmission area and didn't allow the rotors to spin.  You are very screwed at that point!

Current death toll has risen to 9, 3 of which were the crew.
 
Of the 32 injured, 12 are still in hospital, some serious, but stable.