Originally published: Thursday, December 22, 1988

The enormity of last night's air crash became clear as witnesses spoke of an inferno of blazing homes, a crater 50ft deep in the small village of Lockerbie and of cars bursting into flames on the busy A74 dual carriageway nearby.

Late last night police could not give firm casualty figures but there were fears that many people in Lockerbie were among those missing.

The alarm was raised by Mr Scott Maxwell, an AA patrolman, who said he saw part of the plane appear to bounce over his house and land on the top of a neighbour's home. He had tried to telephone for help, but the telephone lines had been cut, so he put a call through from his patrol van to his headquarters in Glasgow.

Timeline: al-Megrahi and the Lockerbie bombing

The events from December 1988 when Flight 103 was blown up until al-Megrahi’s plea for relase on compassionate grounds

Multimedia

• Interactive Lockerbie guide

• PICTURES: Lockerbie

Background

• Lockerbie, 20 years on - Q&A

Multimedia

• PICTURES: Lockerbie

Mr Dougie Boyd, aged 25, an engineer, was at his home in a village five miles from Lockerbie when he heard a crash right outside and found a 10ft high piece of fuselage sticking up in a field outside his house.

``We walked round and there was wreckage everywhere. We called the police.''

Mr David Muir, aged 24, a joiner from Lockerbie, was putting up his Christmas tree lights when he heard a loud bang. ``I put my hands to my ears, it was so bad. When I looked out of the window, I saw a flash and a jet engine dropped into the road a few yards away. It must have narrowly missed falling on a chemical works next door.''

Mr Archie Smith, a retired police inspector who lives in Lockerbie, said that shortly after 7pm the whole sky outside his front window lit up.

``There was an almighty bang which knocked me to the floor. I thought the whole house was going to fall in on top of us. I picked myself up, went outside and saw fires all over the place and wreckage raining down.

``We started getting the old people out of the way. We were worried about the filling station nearby and whether the petrol tanks would go up.

``We had to leave the house, we could do nothing about it and the whole place was burnt down, completely destroyed.''

The Rev Alan Neil said he was visiting a house in the south end of Lockerbie when he heard a rushing sound like a very strong wind. It was the wings of the aircraft sweeping overhead. Then the whole house shook as the plane hit the ground.

Times Recommends

• Fern Britton: 'I still can't see that I was wrong'
• Extreme cooking
• Easy French: Tarte Tatin