Flaming hot metal rained down as people ran for their lives, screaming: How ten seconds of terror descended on Londo

It looked like a scene from a disaster movie.
Debris crashing down to the ground. A helicopter cart-wheeling out of control. Streets and cars set on fire by burning fuel.
One moment a stream of rush-hour traffic was crawling to work in the fog.
The next, people ran for their lives, screaming in fear, desperately trying to find shelter from what one woman described as 'a meteor shower' of flaming metal raining down.
Scroll down for video

 

To a horrifying soundtrack of falling masonry and deafening explosions, it was the moment ten seconds of terror descended on London.
In one of the busiest areas of the capital, the helicopter sliced through the top of a crane 'like a piece of paper' and disintegrated in the street.
Yet, incredibly, witness accounts spoke not of scores dead or injured but of the 'miracle' which allowed so many to walk away unscathed.
Even the crane operators escaped certain death – they were both late for work for the first time anyone could remember yesterday.

 

Others told how they had been only seconds away from the path of a fireball or lethal flying debris.
And when dense fog finally lifted to reveal the devastation beneath, it wasn't hard to see what they meant.
Michael Krumstets was walking to work with his flatmate when he saw the helicopter and heard 'a loud crack'. It had hit the top of a crane above the 50-storey tower being built beside the river at St George Wharf, snapping the jib and sending it crashing down.

Carnage: Debris and ash litter the scorched road as the emergency services begin the clean up

 

'Big blast of heat': The burnt out and buckled remains of a car reveal the extent of the inferno the crash caused

'We were just so lucky,' he said. 'If we'd been walking down that road a couple of seconds earlier we'd be dead.' Still shaking with shock, he and his flatmate ran to help people and gave one water. All around people fled cars or buildings. Two motorcyclists left their bikes and ran.
One man got a hammer from his car and sprinted to a burning vehicle to smash its windows in case anyone was trapped, but was beaten back by flames.
William Belsey, working nearby, said there was a 'huge panic'. 'Everyone was shouting, "Get out! Get out!" For a minute I thought I was going to get crushed by some falling debris. It was complete chaos.'

 

 

Major emergency: The scene of a helicopter crash on Wandsworth Road in Vauxhall, central London, after the fire had been extinguished

Some had been in bed when tragedy struck; at least one took to the freezing streets in a dressing gown. Others leant from windows, while rivers of burning fuel stretched more than 30 yards along the road.
One woman told me she looked out of her flat window to see the mirror-glass windows of a neighbouring block 'glowing orange' from flames spreading along the street.
She said: 'I heard the bang, then this terrible screeching noise, followed by a big explosion and a smaller one. Then, silence. The whole thing must have lasted just ten seconds. When I looked out I could hardly see anything through the fog except this horrible orange glow. I thought it had to be a bomb or a terrorist attack. Then someone came and told us to get out.'
The woman, who asked not to be named, said helicopters often used nearby Battersea helipad, adding: 'They always follow the river. This one must have flown over the buildings and straight into the crane. It was like a mini 9/11.'
To look at images of burned-out cars it is hard to believe anyone got out alive. Astonishingly, some did. Stonemason Lee McPherson told how a couple scrambled through the passenger door of their VW Golf when it was struck by flying debris as they drove on Wandsworth Road. Seconds later the car burst into flames as the helicopter smashed beside it.  
Mr McPherson said: 'It's incredible they escaped with their lives.'

The crash happened near busy Vauxhall train station, which sees hundreds of commuters pass over its tracks every day

Carnage: Debris lies on the ground after a helicopter crashed into a construction crane on top The Tower St George Wharf in central London

 

Mangled wreckage: The scene after a helicopter crashed into a construction crane on top of the St George Wharf tower building in Vauxhall, central London

The area, home to some of London's busiest stations, was heaving with rush-hour travellers yesterday morning. You had only to watch thousands of commuters walking with hundreds of residents as they were evacuated over Vauxhall Bridge to realise how high the toll might have been.
Others were on the school run. Sharon Moore, 36, was walking eight-year-old daughter Tiah to school from their home alongside Wandsworth Road, where the helicopter crashed. At first the mother of five thought she had stumbled on to a film set.
'They do a lot of filming in this area. That what I thought I was watching,' she said. 'Initially the helicopter was flying fine. Then all of a sudden it started shaking and rocking from side to side and making a strange sound. It veered to the left and then smashed into the main boom of the crane.

 

Firefighters pick through twisted metal at the scene of the crash in Vauxhall

 

The area, home to some of London's busiest stations, was heaving with rush-hour travellers yesterday morning