16/01/2013 BBC News at One

Two people are killed, 13 others are injured as a helicopter crashes

in central London. A fireball as it crashes on to a street near

Vauxhall at the height of the morning rush hour. I heard the

helicopter flying around and then I heard a bang and I looked out to

see bits and pieces flying around and then it nosedived over there

and we heard metal falling. I see smoke building up and loads of

fires. Three cars on fire. People just running and screaming

everywhere. The helicopter came down after hitting a crane shrouded

in fog on one of Europe's tallest residential blocks. The pilot had

asked to divert to bat see because of bad weather. Police say the

accident could have been much worse. people involved and certainly for

the two people who have been killed, but it is probably miraculous that

it wasn't much worse. We'll bring you the latest from the scene. In

other news, Islamist militants attack a BP plant in southern

Algeria, seizing a number of workers, including a man from

Northern Ireland. Tesco is one of five supermarkets that has been

sealing beefburgers containing horsemeat. Investigations are under

way. As President Obama prepares to unveil his plans for tackling gun

violence in America, we hear from the family of the British boy

killed in the Sandy Hook shootings. Dylan was wrapped in Mrs Murphy's

arms and she was protecting several children, but Dylan was the one in

her arms and that helps a little bit. Later on BBC London,

eyewitness accounts of the moment the helicopter crashed in Vauxhall.

We'll have the latest on the situation and how it's affecting

Good afternoon. Welcome to the news. Two people have been killed and 13

others injured after a helicopter crashed into a crane in central

London at around 8am. Then it plummeted on to the street below at

the height of the morning rush hour. London was shrouded in low cloud at

the time of the accident. The pilot, who was killed, had asked to be

diverted because of bad weather. The other person who died was on

the ground. Police say it's miraculous that more weren't killed.

One of the first reporters at the scene was Ross Hawkins, who has

sent us this report. Mate, your cars on fire, get out of the car.

Noise and panic in the London rush hour. One driver escapes just in

time. But this car is abandoned. Another vehicle is burning in the

streets sluen with debris and with flames -- strewn with debris and

with flames. A helicopter's just come down. Witnesses know what

they've seen, but they can't quite believe that this can happen here

in their morning commute. helicopter's just come down on the

route I was about to walk to work. The emergency services are on their

way, but through the mist you can see what's happened, the crane on

the tower is destroyed. Much of it has fallen from here to the road

below. I heard the helicopter flying around, then I heard a bang

and I looked out and seen bits and pieces flying around and then it

nosedived over there and a big explosion. We heard metal falling

and that was the jib of the crane falling down and everybody was

running. I turned the corner and saw an explosion and I looked to

the left and I seen smoke building up and loads of fires and three

cars on fire. People were running and screaming everywhere. I saw the

helicopter when it was coming down. I see it hit the crane, so the

crane fall and then I saw the helicopter going like this. On the

other side, then it fell down. I was shocked when I hear the bang.

The damage on the ground was obvious. If you look at the scale

of the response just how significant the incident that

occurred here is becomes immediately clear. You can see the

flashing light and tens of different emergency vehicles that

have arrived in the hour or so since the incident happened. If you

look up into the sky, there is some of the mist clearing and you get an

idea of what has occurred, the damage to that crane quite apparent

at the top of a building that is not completed. There are many

questions about what happened and the consequences still unanswered.

They will want to find out how two people died here, one the pilot of

the helicopter and 13 were injured. But for some of the workers

building the tower, it could have been even worse. The best thing

about it was the crane driver is late for the first time in years,

otherwise he would have been in the crane. He had some luck. I think

given the time of day in London and what's happened there is an

absolute tragedy for the people involved and for the families of

the two people killed, but probably miraculous that it wasn't just much,

much worse. We'll hear much more about the tragedy and the

miraculous escapes and how a journey to work one January morning

could end like this. Richard Bilton is at the scene of the accident for

us now. When you see those pictures it really is, as the police say, a

miracle that more people weren't killed and injured. That's right.

When you hear it feels like that. I'll run you through now where

things happened today. Behind me, you can see that the crane there is

attached to a tower block that has been built right by the Thames. The

river is behind the buildings here. Now, at 8am, when the incident took

place, it was shrouded in mist. The mist was still there when I arrived

at 9am. We know the incident happened at 8am and immediately

what happened was that crane was damaged. It's hard to tell from

this side, but from the other side you can see the arm broken off and

that fell down on to the building site. Then you had the helicopter

itself. Some witnesses said initially it seemed the helicopter

went for a long way, but it didn't. It came down really quickly, about

300 metres down this road. You have seen the pictures. I went there and

looked myself. There is a blackened street. A lot of damage. Chaos when

it hit down, when the helicopter burnt. Part of what you need to

understand here is the gentlemenography of where we are.

Behind the camera is the headquarters of MI5. Further down

the river, half a mile away, the Houses of Parliament. This is the

heart of loond this was the height of the rush -- London and this was

the height of rush hour. You can understand why the police say it's

a miracle that more weren't killed, because it's so busy and the area

is so built up. The Air Accident Investigation Branch is now trying

to establish what did cause the accident. Questions have been

raised about the navigation warning light on the crane, shrouded in fog

when it was hit. Helicopters are a common sight over London, so this

crash has shocked the city. It seems to be an accident rather than

something more sinister, but this morning the Mayor, Boris Johnson,

said it was still too early to tell what went wrong. The emergency

services responded very fast and did very well, but clearly our

information is changing from moment to moment. It's very, very early to

draw any substantive conclusions about what has happened, except

it's a very serious accident. of the investigation is sure to

focus on this crane. A member of the public raised concerns three

months ago claiming it wasn't well light. But a notice issued to

pilots clearly shows it was lit at night. There's no indication yet

that any light were faulty. Weather was also misty this morning and

pilots mostly navigate by sight. No alarm would have gone off to warn

him of the impending danger. It's also possible the helicopter had a

mechanical problem. We know it was diverted. We don't know why.

Independent air accident investigators are now working at

the scene. The skies above London are very tightly controlled and

commercial pilots have hundreds of hours to their name. This kind of

accident is rare. The rules are very strict indeed. You are

obviously talking to air traffic control as well, because they have

the ultimate responsibility and remember we have fixed traffic

going over the top, so you do exactly as you're told. There's

nobody flat-hatting up the river just for the fun of it. It's an

horrific accident, but the police say it was a miracle more people

weren't hurt. It could still be some time before we know exactly

why this helicopter crashed. Some of those who were injured have been

taken to St Thomas's hospital in London close to the scene and our

reporter is there. Do we know what continue they're in? At this

staining, we don't have any details. It's been widely reported that four

people have been taken here. It's about a mile away from the crash

site. The hospital are actually telling us it's only three and they

are not commenting on their condition. What we understand from

other emergency services, though, is that among the injured one

person is in a critical condition. One has a broken leg and that the

others have minor injuries. We know that two of those with minor

injuries were taken to another hospital, south-east of here, a

couple of miles away in Camberwell. We believe that to be a man and

woman. That is in addition to a handful of people who were also

treated for shock by paramedics at the scene, but the rest of those

were not deemed to be in such a serious condition that they merited

further hospital treatment. Thank you.

For more information on the crash and all the latest developments you

can go to our website. A 36-year- old man from Northern Ireland is

among a group of oil workers who have been kidnapped at a gas

facility in southern Algeria by Islamist militants. The men were

seized close to the Libyan bored, in what the Foreign Office is

calling an on-going terrorist incident. Grank gardener is in our

sen it -- frank guard -- Frank Gardner is in our central London

studio for us now. There are reports that one or more Britons

are involved. A man travelling on a Northern Ireland passport is

involved. There are unconfirmed reports that a Frenchman has been

killed in the attack. There are suggestions that they've come

across the border from Mali and come north and a spillover from the

fighting in Mali. The facility, it's a gas facility, jointly run by

BP and by Statol, the Norwegian company, the forces are mobilising

to deal with it in Algeria. At the moment, there are no confirmed

details from the Foreign Office other than saying there is a

terrorist incident, on-going down there in this very remote place,

about 700 miles south-east of the capital. Is it thought that there

could be a link with what is going on in Mali at the moment, Algeria's

neighbour? Yeah. The trouble is that the borders aren't policed at

all. They are very opaque borders and blurred. There is a group down

there, an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic areas which has been

making money out of kidnapping foreigners. That's their main

source of income. This could be simply a kidnap for ransom, or it

could be a retaliation for the French military action in Mali,

which the Islamists down there in northern Mali have always

threatened to do. They've said, "You'll pay for this." There are

reports that there are Frenchmen involved in the kidnapping. Thank

you. In Mali, French troops are engaging

in skirmishes with rebels after heading out north from the capital,

Bamako. 50 armed order vehicles left the city overnight and are now

involved in street fighting in the western towns, taken by the rebels

in a country offensive on Monday. France intervened last weekend. Our

top story this lunchtime - a helicopter has crashed into a crane

in central London. Two people have been killed. 13 others have been

injured. It came down in fog, after hitting a crane on top of one of

Europe's tallest residential blocks in Vauxhall. Later on BBC London,

why did a helicopter crash in central London this morning killing

two people and injuring 13 others? Politicians call for an inquiry

into the number of helicopters flying over tall buildings in the

capital. All in 15 minutes. Tesco has apologised after samples

of the Value burgers were found to contain 29% horsemeat. Horse and

pig DNA were found in burgers sold by four others, including Iceland.

They've been withdrawn from sale. Tesco was pulling some of its own-

brand beefburgers off the shelves last night, after tests showed they

may not be quite what they seem. It's one of several supermarkets

which have been shaken by the findings of Ireland's Food Safety

Authority. It tested a variety -- variety of frozen burgers and nine

were found to contain small traces of horse DNA, but a sample of

Tesco's Everyday Value burgers were found to be 29%. None of the

burgers is said to be a health risk. I've sent my vets into the factory

serned today. They've been going through papers and interviewing --

concerned today. They've been going through papers and interviewing

management. They are establishing the facts where the product could

have come from, because the factory concerned does not slaughter horses

and it doesn't import any horsemeat. Tesco has apologised and launched

an investigation. We want to apologise to our customers and we

are as sorry as they are that this has happened. It's unacceptable and

we must prevent it ever happening again and that's why we have taken

all the procautions so far. other supermarkets found to have

products containing traces of horsemeat have also withdrawn them.

They are examining their supply If I eat beef burgers I don't

expect there to be horsemeat or pigmeat in, there because that's

against my religion. If they say beef burgers, they should only have

beef. They say burgers, and they are safe, there should be no

problem with it. The issue raises uncomfortable questions of just how

much we really know about what's in our food.

A group of Conservative backbenchers calling themselves

Fresh Start is publishing a manifesto calling for a substantial

return of powers to the UK from the European Union. Its publication

comes ahead of the Prime Minister's long-awaited speech on the UK and

Europe on Friday. Before becoming Prime Minister

David Cameron told his party not to bang on about Europe. It wasn't top

of voters's concerns, but many of his MPs believe the eurozone crisis

has given him an opportunity to negotiate a new looser relationship

with the rest of the EU. A group supported by around 100 of his MPs

stay the status quo in Europe is no longer an option. The eurozone has

to move towards greater fiscal union as a result of the eurozone

crisis. Britain is not going down that path, so in common with other

non-euro members we have to redefine what relationship we want.

The Fresh Start manifesto says Britain can bring back from

When David Cameron delivers his speech on Friday he will endorse

the idea of bringing back powers from Brussels to Britain but knows

he will only succeed if he wins an overall majority at the next

election and is able to ditch his pro-EU partners. Then he says he

will seek the pressure consent of the British people in a referendum.

Do we look at these changes and see what we can do to maximise

Britain's national interest, and do we consult the public about that,

or do we sit back do nothing and tell the public to go hang? Labour

say long negotiations and the prospect of a referendum in the

next Parliament is causing uncertainty and damaging the

economy. He spent six months preparing a speech to create five

years of uncertainty for Britain. When it comes to Europe, it is the

same old Tories. A divided party and a weak Prime Minister.

David Cameron believes he can forge a new relationship with Brussels

but he is playing for high political stakes. If he fails he

may boost the prospects of those who say the only way to achieve

change is to leave the European Union entirely.

Our political correspondent Norman Smith is in Westminster for us.

Give us your assessment of how significant this Fresh Start group

is. Sophie it is significant, because so far Mr. Cameron has kept

his cards close to his chest when it comes to the sort of powers he

wants back from Europe. Why? Because he doesn't want to show his

negotiating hand. This group report, not Government sanctioned or

Government backed, but it does give an insight into Government thinking.

Mr Hague wrote the foreward, Downing Street described the ideas

as interesting. What it gives suss an idea of the scale of change

desired by Mr Cameron. We are not talking about a minor cherry-

picking of pours but shaking the EU tree and bringing back bunches of

powers back to Britain. He told MPs he wanted the issue of Europe

settled for once and for all. The difficulty is it makes it much less

likely he will get the agreement of other EU countries. What happens if

they say no? It is a question he is bound to be asked Ben he briefs

Conservative Cabinet Minister this is afternoon ahead of his crunch

speech on Friday, and it is a question to which so far we've had

no answer. President Obama will today unveil

his plans for tackling America's problems with gun violence. He said

last month's shooting at a school in Connecticut, when 20 children

and six adults were killed, it was worst day of his presidency. Steve

Kingston has been speaking to the parents of Dylan Hockley, the six-

year-old British boy who was killed in the shooting. Nicole and even

Hockley moved here from Britain two years ago. Their sons Jake and

Dylan settled at Sandy Hook Elementary School where on a Friday

morning last month Dylan Hockley died. Dylan was wrapped in Mrs

Murphy's arms. She was protecting several children but Dylan was the

one actually in her arms, and that help as little bit. To know that he

wasn't alone. They had a very good bond, a very strong bond, and I

knew she would be looking after him. To know he was with her helps.

year-old Dylan was autistic. Mrs Murphy, a classroom assistant, had

been helping him with his reading. They were among the 20 children and

six staff members killed at Sandy Hook. Today the prez who shed tears

for them will deliver his policy response. I'm guessing you met

Barack Obama. Yes. He is about to outline his concrete policy

proposals in response to this tragedy. What do you both want to

hear from the President? That he will address many different topics,

not just one topic, a lot of them. Responsible gun ownership is there.

Mental health and how we bring up our children and how we act this

society a - so many different areas. There is only a number which

legislation will cover. The rest we as society will tackle, but those

that legislation does cover, that he is prepared to take on all of

those. Change will not come easily. Since the shooting gun sales have

soared. America's National Rifle Association has urged its allies in

Congress to block any move to limit the sale of high powered weapons.

But confronted by politics and the challenge of daily life, this

family remains determined. You seem strong. I think if you have a child

you have to be strong for them. We are very busy with Dylan's fund and

advocating with Sandy Hook Prompts on behalf of Dylan, but you also

have to devote a significant amount of time to your child that's still

alive as well, and maintain a sense of a new normality for his sake, to

help him get through this. That helps us get through it as well.

You will stay? Yes. We are staying in Newtown. Newtown is a wonderful

place and this single event isn't going to undermine that.

Japan's two biggest airlines have grounded all their Boeing 787

Dreamliner planes after one was forced to major an emergency

landing. The 787 only came into service last year but has

experienced problems from fuel leaks to cracks in a cockpit window.

This is a sight that will make hearts sink at Boeing's

headquarters in Chicago. It may look like a drill but this is for

real. An emergency evacuation from one of Boeing's shiny new 787

Dreamliners. It was caught on camera by a Japanese TV reporter

and who just happened to be on board The end the fire trucks were

not needed and the passengers all walked away unharmed. But smoke on

board an aircraft in flight is always serious. That's why All

Nippon Airways and Japan airlines have both ordered the grounding of

all their 787s until they can be thoroughly checked. TRANSLATION:

All Nippon Airways flight has made an emergency landing after a

cockpit message indicated there was a problem. Details are being

checked but we are not prepared to comment on any general problems

that have surfaced in the 787. is no exaggeration to say the 787

is the future of Boeing. More than 800 of the hi-tech light-weight

planes have been ordered. But in the last week it has been hit by an

unprecedented serious of incidents first an electrical fire on board a

Japan Airlines dream liner in Boston. Then a fuel leak from

another JAL Dreamliner the next day. The day an All Nippon Airways dreen

liner suffered a cracked windscreen. And now. This experts say the 787

is still a very good plane. But with so many incidents in a short

space of time, Boeing has a lot of explaining to do to its customers.

Let's go back to the main story, the helicopter crash in central

London this morning. Two people have died, 13 others have been

injured, one critically. Our correspondent Jeremy Cook is flying

above the scene of the accident now. We are hovering just south of the

River Thames in this milky winter sunshine, but we can still see

through the sunshine the tower. The tower now is being lit by the

bright sun, but this morning of course a very different situation,

because the whole of central London was really enveloped in cloud. The

helicopter in question we are told was a modern helicopter with all of

the latest navigation equipment, but you can clearly see the crane

next to the tower. As we've all been hearing during the morning,

somehow this helicopter collided with that tower, with the tragic

consequences that we've all seen. Of course there is speculation

about what the cause of that crash was. The investigation on the scene

below there is still in full swing. What we are told is conditions now,

although the visibility is not perfect, were much, much different

from this morning. The visibility then was really very restricted.

One of the questions is whether or not the helicopter in question was

trying to land in a nearby Battersea heliport, whether it was

trying to return to base. We actually came from Redhill from the

Aerodrome where the original helicopter took off. It only took

15 minutes or so to get from there to this location. You can see why

people want to make that sort of journey, because it takes about 15

or 20 minutes to get from there to this election in London, whereas in

you were driving it would take at least an hour that, very striking

when looking back at the tower there that the crane is still there.

It is still standing but it does look damaged. It looks to me as

though it will be a major job to make that crane safe and to get the

area underneath the tower back to some sort of safe position. I'm

sure that's very much the focus on attention as the air investigation

continues in parallel to that effort. Jeremy thank you. Vicki

Young is at the scene of the crash in Vauxhall. Ambulance officials

are saying those who were injured are suffering from broken bonus,

cuts, bruises and shock. You have been speaking to some people who

saw what happened. What have they been saying to you?

overwhelming feeling from people who witnessed this is that it is

nothing short of a miracle that more weren't injured. That

helicopter crash is next to a busy train line, a huge bus station,

numerous flats and a huge supermarket. So people here who

witnessed it, who heard that crash, who saw the helicopter tumbling

down and bursting into flames are amazed. I spoke to two lorry

drivers delivering something to the bottom of that tower. They felt

something fall down from above and they thought it was the crane

coming down, so they ran away. They were still shaking when I spoke to

them several hours later. The investigation will continue into

whether the crane was properly lit. There are some reports that members

of public have felt in the last few months it hasn't been properly lit.

The Prime Minister saying that the amount of air traffic that comes

around London will be part of that investigation. The air

investigation authorities are on the scene. They will be looking

into that in the coming hours and days. Vicki, thank you.

days. Vicki, thank you. Now the weather. Hello there. A

quiet couple of days coming up and then there's a significant change

as we move towards the tail end of the week. The rest of this week

cold by day and by night. Frost and ice around, and the risk of

significant snowfall by Friday. Today one or two fleeting showers

along the eastern coast. Towards the west a different tale. We've

got a weather front, a weak affair, coming into the western side of

Scotland through Northern Ireland. What's falling from this is mostly

watery, the hint of wintriness. Towards the south-west of England,

through Wales, here dry for the most part. A Vale of cloud turning

things a wee bit hazy. Still a supply of showers for eastern Kent,

and lying snowfall as the day progresses. Through the evening and

overnight the patchy and dense freezing fog through the afternoon

across parts of the East Midlands and Lincolnshire will thicken.

Another bitterly cold night. Where you've got the lying snow, these

are town and city temperatures but as was the case last night, where

you have the lying snow or dense fog on Thursday, it will be much,

much colder. Bright enough providing you haven't got fog to

contend with. The cloud thickening towards the west. Notice that we

are converting some of the rain into something more wintry. Again I

don't think it is going to amount to very much. That's Wednesday and

Thursday done and dusted and then already at this stage the Met

Office have issued an amber warning for significant and disruptive snow.

Dense air over the British isles keeping us cold. The mild air has

been there. We've seen at times attempts to bring it in towards the

British Isles. Notice the number of isobars. Very windy. As the moist

air rides up over the cold air, so we have a very ready conversion to

a lot of snow. Not so much around the western peripheries but inland,

as soon as we get the snow inland there'll be a lot of it. It really

is quite extensive on another cold day across central and eastern

parts. Factor in the strong wind. How much snow? In the yellow area

up to 10cms, but in the amber area, our greatest concern, 10-15cms of

snow with a lot more over the hills, snow with a lot more over the hills,