Crash victims 'on shooting trip'

Air accident investigators are continuing their inquiries

Four men who died when a helicopter crashed into a field in Cumbria were travelling to a shooting weekend in Scotland, police said.

The bodies of the victims, including a father and son, were found near a farm in Gatebeck, Kendal, on Saturday.

The Robinson R44 aircraft set off from Carnforth, Lancashire, on Friday night bound for Lochmaben, near Lockerbie.

The father and son were from the Carnforth area and the two other men were from West Yorkshire.

A Cumbria Police spokesman said the deceased would not be named until next of kin had been informed, with full details expected to be released on Monday morning.

Air accident investigators are continuing their inquiries at the crash scene near Sill Field Farm.

Mobile phones

The wreckage of the helicopter is expected to be removed from the site later on Sunday.

A search operation involving police, coastguards, mountain rescue teams and an RAF helicopter was mounted when the helicopter failed to arrive at its destination.

Police pinpointed its position using signals from the passengers' mobile phones, but a farm worker had spotted the crashed aircraft and had alerted emergency services.

A spokesman for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service said the area had experienced heavy rain and strong winds on Friday night.

Two of the bodies were said to have been inside the wreckage, while the other two were on the ground.

Sill Field Farm is owned by pig farmer Peter Gott who is well known in the area for breeding wild boar.