A flurry of 999 calls were made, but no one knew the horror of what happened. Only later, through thick fog, did details emerge of the helicopter crash in which four people died a year ago. People at the scene spoke to reporter Sam Russell.
'There was a sombre atmosphere'
Dave Lennard, former editor of the EDP's sister paper the Beccles and Bungay Journal, was called out to report on the incident.
'It was the foggiest evening of the winter as I made my way slowly towards Gillingham,' he wrote. 'I met the photographer and we spoke to police officers who had set up a roadblock at the roundabout preventing any access along the A143.
'It was soon confirmed that a helicopter had crashed and that four people had been killed.
'There was a sombre atmosphere which was only heightened by the fog.
'As more media representatives arrived at the scene, including television crews, there was no doubt this was going to be an internationally important tragedy to report.
'Gillingham does not normally make such headlines but local people were sympathetic and all thoughts were for the victims and their families.'
'It was quite eerie... there was hardly any traffic'
Nick Butcher, an EDP photographer who lives three miles from the crash site, was the first member of the media on scene.
'It was quite eerie,' he said. 'There was hardly any traffic at all, and it is normally a busy route.
'At a road crash you would expect to see a lot of activity from the emergency services, but there was absolutely nothing.
'A few people were eating at McDonald's, but the roads were empty.
'There wasn't a lot to see – there was just one police officer blocking the road off, and then news filtered through that it was a helicopter crash and there was a sombre mood.
'The emergency workers must have found the crash site, seen what had happened and there was nothing they could do until first light the next day.
'Not long after I arrived the other media organisations pitched up and it was all over the TV news when I got home.'
'One person heard it come over the pub and rattle the windows'
Lorraine Greenwood, 50, lives in Church Road, fewer than 100 metres from the gates of Gillingham Hall.
'It was about 7.45pm and there were a hell of a lot of emergency service vehicles going round the roundabout then coming back,' she said.
'I thought 'what on earth is going on?'.
'Then when I looked down the road I saw they were all at the hall gates.
'I was worried there had been a break-in and they were searching for somebody, so I rang the police non-emergency incident number.
'They said it wasn't a break-in, and the only thing I could think of was a helicopter crash.
'It used to be a ritual waving to the captain as the helicopter took off.
'One person in the village said she heard it come over the pub and rattle the windows that night, which was really strange.
'My main memory is just sadness about the people that died.
'But it was lucky that it wasn't worse – I don't think anybody realised that people lived in this road to begin with.'
'The fog was so dense it was extremely disorientating'
Norfolk Accident Rescue Service volunteer Dr Tim Morton, who lives around a mile from the crash site, was second on scene.
'I had finished my evening surgery, gone home, had supper and was just about to settle down and watch TV when the critical care desk at Chelmsford rang me to say there had been an aircraft crash and could I attend,' he said. 'I was mobilised and stepped out of the front door to be confronted by dense, thick fog, where I could barely see 10 metres. I know the area, so made my way to Gillingham very slowly.
'I got there to be met by a policeman saying 'I don't know where or what has crashed'.
'So we put on our flashing lights and within a few minutes other emergency services joined us.
'We did a field search walking across the field 10 yards apart until we found the crash site.
'That probably took a good half hour. Because of aviation fuel the crash site was sealed off by the fire service.
'I was then sent in to ascertain how many bodies and whether there was anything anyone could do, and sadly it was very obvious from the catastrophic injuries that the four people had died fairly instantly.
'What struck me was the poor visibility, the darkness, the muddy field, and the uncertainty of what you were expecting, which lingers with me.
'At the time, minute by minute we weren't quite certain what we were going to be faced with.
'It was a good example of all the services working together, and me being able to bring a degree of local knowledge as to where we were likely to be looking.
'The fog was so dense it was extremely disorientating, and without a compass it was difficult to know which direction you were facing.
'At the time you're thinking more about your professional role, what you do, how you liaise with colleagues and working as a team.
'You don't have time to think too much about it at the time.'
'I asked if there was a possibility that this was a hoax call'
Rod Wells, critical care paramedic for Suffolk Accident Rescue Service, was one of only two medics allowed on the crash site.
'I was dispatched by the ambulance service critical care desk (CCD) as I was on call,' he recalled. 'I was told that there was a report of a helicopter crash in a field at Beccles, so I got into my car and started to drive there.
'I remember it was very foggy – too foggy to fly – so I called CCD to advise them there would be a delay in getting to the scene.
'Visibility was so bad that my blue lights were reflecting back at me due to the fog.
'I asked if there was a possibility that this was a hoax call as I could not imagine anything being able to fly in these conditions.
'CCD advised me that Norwich airport was monitoring an aircraft crash beacon and to continue to scene. Once on-scene I was joined by Dr Tim Morton, police and fire crews, and we started a search into a muddy field.
'It was about 15 minutes into the search that we found the helicopter crash site.
'I was told by the police that just myself and Dr Morton were allowed into the crash area as it was dangerous, and was a crime scene to see if there were any survivors.
'Once in the crash site it soon became very evident that all four passengers had died on impact.
'It was very eerie due to the darkness, and fog the only noise was from the aircraft's location beacon.'
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