[QUOTE]Eyewitness Andrew Beadle: "I thought it was a bomb" (Footage Jason/Complete Couriers and Jose Gomez)
Two people were killed and 12 were injured when a helicopter crashed into a crane in central London.
Police said the helicopter hit the crane on top of The Tower, One St George Wharf at about 08:00 GMT.
About 80 firefighters were at the scene near Wandsworth Road in South Lambeth. Doctors said one of the dead was the pilot and the other was on the ground. Six people were taken to hospital.
The pilot had asked to be diverted to a nearby heliport because of bad weather.
Jon Horne, chief executive of Redhill Aerodrome Ventures, where the helicopter began its flight, said it was owned by the Rotormotion private charter firm.
Metropolitan Police Commander Neil Basu told BBC News it was "miraculous" the crash was not much worse.
Burning wreckage lay in the road but the fire was brought under control within 25 minutes, the fire brigade said.
'Enormous bang'
One of those taken to hospital had a broken leg and the others had minor injuries. Seven people were treated at the scene.
Part of the crane was left hanging from the side of the residential building, which is still under construction. London Fire Brigade said part of the tail section of the helicopter landed on roof of the building and the main section landed in Wandsworth Road, hitting two cars. The fire from the helicopter ignited two buildings.
The helicopter was on a scheduled flight from Redhill in Surrey to Elstree in Hertfordshire, according Mr Horne at Redhill.
A spokesman for London Heliport at Battersea said the pilot had requested to divert and land there due to bad weather.
The incident caused gridlock with all approaches to the Vauxhall Cross one way system closed at the height of the rush hour and Vauxhall Tube station and railway station closed, though the stations have since reopened.
London Fire Brigade said more than 50 other firefighters were at St George's Wharf to secure the damaged crane.
The BBC weather centre said weather observations at the time of the crash showed very low cloud but not thick fog. The nearest observation site was London City Airport which at 08:00 reported 700m visibility with broken cloud at a height of 100ft.
NATS, which runs air traffic control across the UK, said the pilot had been receiving assistance earlier in the flight but not at the time of the crash.
Julian Firth, who is leading a team from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch investigating the crash, said the wreckage would be taken to its site at Farnborough, Hampshire.
He said it would take several months to produce a full report into the incident.
An RNLI lifeboat was initially sent to search the Thames near the crash scene following a request from London Heliport after it lost contact with the aircraft, which is understood to be an AgustaWestland AW109, a lightweight, twin-engine helicopter with eight seats.
Fire brigade station manager Bruce Grain said crews arrived at the scene in four minutes.
He said the helicopter fell into Wandsworth Road, hitting various vehicles and bursting into flames and there were also fires in nearby buildings.
A man was rescued from a burning car by firefighters.
Wandsworth Road was blocked by the burning wreckage and aviation fuel and the side of a building also caught fire.
A motorcycle was also lying on its side in the road where it was abandoned.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/65318000/jpg/_65318306_65318305.jpg[/img]
Jesus.
Sorry pal, you're late.
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