Death Toll at 9 in Scottish Copter Crash

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/world/europe/death-toll-at-9-in-scottish-copter-crash.html

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LONDON — As investigators continued to examine the wreckage of a police helicopter that plunged through the roof of a crowded pub in Glasgow, the police said on Monday that a ninth body had been found in the debris.

The dead included all three aboard the helicopter as well as six people inside the pub, where a band was performing at about 10:30 p.m. Friday night when the helicopter, carrying two police officers and a civilian pilot, spun down into the building, apparently after losing power. Many other people were injured.

On Sunday, the police identified the victims on the helicopter as Constable Tony Collins, 43, and Constable Kirsty Nelis, 36, who were part of Police Scotland’s operational support division; and Capt. Dave Traill, 51, the pilot, who worked for Bond Air Services.

Chief Constable Stephen House said in a statement that he wanted to “pay tribute to all three and recognize the important contribution they made to our public service and to the communities they have served.”

A separate police statement said that emergency workers were still trying to recover bodies from the site. One of the dead was identified as Gary Arthur, 48, from the Paisley area west of Glasgow.

Twelve of the injured remained hospitalized on Sunday, the police said, adding that the job of removing what remained of the helicopter from the pub, called the Clutha, was complex. Images showed wreckage from the tail of the helicopter on the pub’s roof, with one piece sticking out of a gash in the building.

On Saturday, Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond, said it was a “black day for Glasgow and Scotland,” and David Cameron, the British prime minister, called the accident a “tragic event.”

Rescue workers were among those in attendance at Glasgow Cathedral on Sunday as the congregation prayed for the victims and their relatives.