Eight people have been killed in the helicopter crash at a crowded Glasgow

Eight people have been killed in the helicopter crash at a crowded Glasgow pub, police said on Saturday, with 14 others seriously injured in hospital.

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Emergency services personnel inspect the rooftop of The Clutha Glasgow pub where a police helicopter crashed in Glasgow on November 30, 2013. (AFP/ANDY BUCHANAN)

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GLASGOW: Eight people were killed when a Scottish police helicopter crashed onto a busy Glasgow pub and plunged through the roof of the packed bar, police said on Saturday.
Fourteen people lay seriously injured in hospitals across Scotland's biggest city after the chopper smashed into The Clutha pub, where well over 100 revellers had been watching a band play on Friday night.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond called it a "black day" for the nation as emergency service workers toiled inside the one-storey building to get round the rubble.
While Scotland should have been celebrating its national day, instead worried friends and relatives spent St. Andrew's Day praying their loved ones were not among the fatalities, who have not yet been named.
Police Scotland Chief Constable Stephen House said the two officers and the civilian pilot aboard the police helicopter and five people inside The Clutha were dead.
He added: "You can imagine the terror of the situation when a helicopter came through the top of the building."
House said the rescue mission was complex and would take time, adding that he did not know if there were more people trapped inside.
"We are dealing with a very sensitive investigation and operation here. It will go on for many days yet," Scotland's police chief told reporters at the scene.
"Imagine the situation where the helicopter has come down and is almost literally sitting in the middle of the building. Until that is resolved, we can't know everything that is inside."
Thirty-two people were taken by ambulance to three hospitals following the incident, which took place at 10:25 pm (2225 GMT).
Witnesses said the helicopter dropped like a stone, while people inside the bar heard a heavy thud before the roof caved in and the air filled with dust and screams.
After pubgoers and passers-by did what they could to get the wounded to safety, emergency services worked through the night in a bid to recover people from the wreckage.
Now covered by a tarpaulin, one of the Eurocopter EC135 T2's rotor blades could be seen jutting out of the roof at a jagged angle.
People stood at the cordon 30 metres back, their hopes fading by the hour for missing friends and loved ones.
John McGarrigle was desperately waiting for news of his father.
"I think he was in there when it crashed," the 38-year-old said, showing journalists a picture on his mobile phone of him standing with his 59-year-old father.
His father, also called John McGarrigle, had gone to The Clutha and has not been heard of since despite his son calling an emergency number and the city's hospitals.
"I've checked every hospital and there's no sign of him," said his son.
The majority of those treated in hospital were suffering from chest injuries, head injuries, bone fractures and lacerations, said Jennifer Armstrong, medical director of the Greater Glasgow Health Board.
A sombre Salmond - who just days ago was celebrating the release of a legal blueprint for Scottish independence - said it was "a black day for Glasgow and for Scotland".
"But it's also St. Andrew's Day and it's a day we can take pride and courage in how we respond to adversity and tragedy," the nationalist leader said.
Flags at the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh flew at half-mast while a minute's silence was held ahead of a football match between Falkirk and Glasgow side Rangers.
Witnesses told of confusion, terror and then bravery after the accident.
Drinkers were listening to a ska band when a heavy thud rocked the bar.
"There was some smoke, what seemed like smoke," said Grace MacLean, who was inside the pub.
The band carried on playing "and then it started to come down more and someone started screaming and then the whole pub just filled with dust," she told the BBC.
Pubgoers and passers-by formed a human chain to help drag the wounded out of the wreckage before the emergency services raced to the scene.
Britain's former Europe minister Jim Murphy, who had been driving past, went to help survivors, his shirt stained with blood.