John Connell said he heard screams from inside the blazing fuselage and tried to rescue a woman but was beaten back by the heat.

BBC Scotland's Colin Wight spoke to Airtours passengers in Aberdeen

Eight of the 11 people on the Cessna 404 bound for Aberdeen were killed after the aircraft hit the ground seconds into the flight.

Manchester-based holiday company Airtours confirmed that nine of its crew members - two pilots and seven cabin crew staff - were the passengers on the aircraft.

They were due to join a Boeing 757 on a holiday flight to Palma from Aberdeen.

John Connell: "Pulled survivors from wreckage"

It is understood that of the three people who survived the crash, one is an Airtours pilot and two are cabin crew members.

Of the three survivors, one is thought to be in a critical condition and another has spinal injuries. The third is said to be stable.

Mr Connell told BBC Scotland he was working in a field when the plane took off.

"What drew my attention to it was I could hear one of the engines spluttering. I heard it cut out and stop," he said.

He ran to the crash scene, which he described as "just fire".

John Connell: "One survivor was still on fire"

"It was really bad," said Mr Connell. "I could see a couple of feet, somebody crawling about outside.

"I pulled another two free. One was still on fire, his clothes were burning."

Mr Connell said he then tried to return to the burning wreckage but had to keep back because of the heat from flames.

He said he could hear the screams of a woman but could do nothing but wait for the emergency services.

Dr Damian Kershaw: "There was nothing we could do"

Medic Dr Damian Kershaw, 26, a member of the Helensburgh Rescue Team, arrived after the three survivors had been airlifted to hospital by a helicopter from RAF Gannet at Prestwick.

"The plane was very badly burned," he said. "It seems to have caught fire on impact so there was not a lot left of the wreckage to see.

"The right-hand wing was not there any more. The left-hand side was pretty much intact but the rest of the plane was very badly mangled.

Dr Damian Kershaw describes the crash scene

"By the time I got there all three survivors had been airlifted to hospital. There was nothing we could do for the remaining occupants."

He said he was "very surprised indeed" that anyone had survived the crash.

Brian Oldrey, Deputy Leader of Renfrewshire Council, saw the aircraft go down.

Wing 'vertical'

"The right wing dropped down so that instead of flying parallel to the ground it was actually flying vertically," he said.

"It then disappeared behind a line of trees which were pretty low down.