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New inquiry ordered into mineshaft death of Alison Hume | New inquiry ordered into mineshaft death of Alison Hume |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The first minister has ordered a new independent inquiry into the death of a woman who fell down a mineshaft. | |
Alex Salmond also said the family of Alison Hume deserved an apology in the wake of the incident, in Ayrshire. | |
Mrs Hume, 44, lay for six hours after health and safety rules delayed a rescue at Galston, in 2008. | |
The new probe will come after a fatal accident inquiry highlighted several failings in how the emergency services responded. | |
The chief inspector of fire and rescue authorities, Steven Torrie, will head up the new inquiry - only the second of its kind - which is expected to get under way shortly and to last several months. | |
At the same time, a spokesman for Mr Salmond said: "The first minister believes Alison Hume's bereaved family are entitles to an apology for their loss." | |
The comment came after Strathclyde Fire and Rescue described the death as "a source or enormous regret", but did not apologise. | |
Mrs Hume, a lawyer and mother-of-two, fell into the decommissioned Goatfoot Colliery mineshaft shortly before or after midnight on 26 July 2008. | |
Emergency services were called to the scene at about 02:15 after she was found by her daughter and was freed by mountain rescue experts at about 07:42, but later died in Kilmarnock's Crosshouse Hospital. | |
The fatal accident inquiry into her death, overseen by Sheriff Desmond Leslie, concluded Mrs Hume may have lived if emergency services - and the fire service in particular - had removed her sooner. | |
The sheriff's ruling highlighted procedural failings which led to the delay, and said senior officers on the scene "rigidly stood by their operational guidelines". | |
Speaking during first minister's questions at Holyrood, Mr Salmond said the FAI determination carried "many important lessons and issues", adding: "What people will now be looking for is an indication of the action that now must follow." | |
"Given the serious nature of the determination by Sheriff Leslie, I've asked the minister for community safety to make such a request of the chief inspector," he said. | |
"He will then carry out a comprehensive inquiry and the report is then laid before this parliament. | "He will then carry out a comprehensive inquiry and the report is then laid before this parliament. |
"It will then be for ministers to decide what direction, if any, can be made." | "It will then be for ministers to decide what direction, if any, can be made." |
The first minister told parliament: "This is the most serious nature of action that can be made by ministers under the legislation - I think the circumstances of the case reflect it and require it." | The first minister told parliament: "This is the most serious nature of action that can be made by ministers under the legislation - I think the circumstances of the case reflect it and require it." |
Mr Salmond also said there was "nothing in Sheriff Leslie's determination which questions that the firefighters and fire officers on site - every single one of them - had the aim and intention of rescuing Alison Hume". | |
He added there was "nothing in the determination to deflect from the general admiration and support that we give the fire services and our other blue light services, which do such a fantastic job on Scotland's behalf". |