Following on from the plane crash at Shoreham Airshow in West Sussex, police are still investigating the cause of the crash.
A Hawker Hunter jet crashed into the A27 after the pilot, 51-year-old former RAF pilot Andy Hill, attempted to do a loop-the-loop. He survived the crash and remains in hospital.
Twenty people are feared dead so far, including two Worthing United footballers, Matthew Grimstone and Jacob Schilt. The teammates were on their way to play against Loxwood in the Southern Combination Football League.
Their manager, Nigel Geary, said they were best friends who always travelled to matches together. He said:
The team is very close, we won a double last year and Matt and Jacob were fundamental parts of that side. Without them, we wouldn’t have done it.
Now a story has emerged of a gran who drove through the inferno aftermath of the crash, and carried on to work.
Vivien Ayling, 64, told The Sun:
I saw it coming towards me, head-on. All I thought was, ‘I need to get away fast’. It was all in slow motion, I imagine it’s what an atomic bomb would be like.
I was scared there’d be another explosion and I wanted to get away quickly — so I got back in and went to work.
I called my husband and told him I was OK but as soon as I got to work I started to cry. My friends there took me upstairs and I had a cup of tea with lots of sugar and it all started to sink in.
After 30 minutes I went to the shop floor and started work. I wanted to do something normal to calm down.
She added:
The fire came and smoke surrounded me and I had a few seconds to decide what to do, there was no more time to react.
To be honest, I thought about what they do in the movies and I just pressed my foot to the floor.
It was all in slow motion, like an apocalyptic movie.
She saw the plane come down yards away from her car, and revealed that the pilot attempted to save the lives of spectators:
The plane wasn’t nose-diving, it just smashed down on its belly and blew up. I saw him heading at me and then he started to try to turn the plane to the left.
He was trying to avoid the road and the people watching on the side of the A27.
The fire lifted above my car and I could just smell the smoke through the car engine, I will never forget that smell.
I had my windows up because it was so warm, I had my windows up and my air-con on. I think that helped to save me. I could see the red glow behind me and I just needed to get away.
Vivien then realised that hers was the last car to avoid being caught up in the inferno.
Our thoughts go out to the friends and families of the victims.
