Rescuers work in twisted sprawl

One carriage rolled down an embankment

By BBC News Online special correspondent Mike McKay

The orange-jacketed Railtrack man leant on a fence staring at the twisted sprawl of shattered trains spread along the East Coast line.

"They can't say this was down to us but I expect someone will," he muttered.

We have been breaking open windows and doors and using small portable ladders to reach the survivors

Graham Buckle
North Yorkshire fire brigade

To his left the wide, flat field was alive with rescue workers and paramedic teams.

Just beyond them two RAF rescue helicopters stood by to ferry injured passengers to hospital.

They brought in several doctors. Now they waited to see if the heat source, located by firefighters in the buffet car, was another trapped survivor.

A knot of firefighters was hunched over the roof of a car.

Heat-seeking cameras

Assistant divisional officer, Graham Buckle of the North Yorkshire Fire Brigade, said they were using vibraphones and heat-seeking cameras to locate passengers.

"We have been breaking open windows and doors and using small portable ladders to reach the survivors," he said.

I hadn't intended to travel by train but because of the snow I drove my car into York and caught the train there

John Dunwell
Survivor

"One male passenger came to us and said he had tried to make one woman passenger comfortable and promised get her help.

"Fortunately we were able to get her and take her out."

One hundred yards from the wreckage a large barn was being used as a casualty station before survivors were released or sent to hospital.

Residents help

Immediately after the crash, residents from Great Heck, the hamlet overlooking the scene, turned out with blankets and took more than a dozen passengers into their homes.

One of them was John Dunwell, from Bedales in North Yorkshire.

"I hadn't intended to travel by train," he said.

"But because of the snow I drove my car into York and caught the train there."

On the small bridge over the impact scene there was a powerful smell of diesel.

Caravan crushed

Below to the left of the track lay a family caravan, crushed by one of the carriages.

It had stood in the yard of the two farmhouses overlooking the northbound track.

The yard was taped off and policeman stood guard.

Half a mile up the track could be seen the M62 bridge and embankment down which a Land Rover and low-loader had crashed leading to the collision between the trains.

The south-bound passenger train had derailed and shunted the vehicle hundreds of yards down the track before colliding with the north-bound coal train.

Snow flurries

The crash scene is reached by two narrow country lanes which are packed with the parked cars and vehicles of hundreds of journalists and camera crews.

Every so often the sky darkens and another flurry of snow arrives to hamper the rescue efforts.

Police checkpoints have been set up on the approach roads and on both sides of the Great Heck bridge the track side is swarming with the orange and green jackets of rail staff and North Yorkshire police.

The tragedy comes only weeks after the East Coast line was fully restored after a land-slip and severe flooding last autumn.