SCOTLAND: It was a working morning like any other at Stockline Plastics yesterday. On the ground floor, there was the usual banter as the factory workers made plastics for the building trade. Upstairs, the office workers and the bosses were in a meeting. Then noon broke, and the blast ripped through the building.
The four-storey factory collapsed instantly. The noise tore across the west end of Glasgow. Outside, people could not believe what they were seeing. Inside, there was only darkness and panic as debris and dust consumed the scene.
Mr Daniel Gilmour was on the ground floor with his workmates, Jimmy and Gordon, when the explosion struck. "It just went pitch black with all the dust and I didn't know if there was anyone there so I shouted to my mate Jimmy," he said, blood dripping from head wounds.
Miraculously, the blast blew a hole in the wall near where Mr Gilmour was standing. "I grabbed hold of Jimmy and we held hands and we crawled through," he said. "I don't know how I got out of the building, it collapsed on top of us." Mr Gilmour was one of the fortunate ones on the ground floor. Upstairs, they were not so lucky. "My boss is still in there. He was holding a conference in the conference room upstairs," said Mr Gilmour.
There were 100 or so workers inside Stockline Plastics when the explosion ripped through the building. The factory workers on the ground floor said an industrial gas oven exploded without warning. Many of them managed to get out quickly.
David Andrews was one of them. He was working on the other side of the building when he heard the bang. "I was trying to help pull people from the rubble," he said. "All my colleagues were lying on the ground with cuts and bruises to their heads and broken arms."
Derek King was in the workshop. "There was a massive bang and everything came down on top of me. I thought, 'My God the girders are coming down as well'," he told the BBC. Mr King's legs were trapped; he had no feeling in the left one. Rescue workers lifted him to safety.
Things needed to be done urgently, but in the wreckage of the building, they needed to be done slowly. "There are a limited number of people we can put on the rubble pile," said Brian Sweeney, firemaster with Strathclyde fire brigade.
Like a building in an earthquake the factory imploded, leaving big cavities. Those trapped used their mobile phones to call for help.
Relatives gathered outside not knowing what category their loved ones fell into. On Maryhill Road, an elderly woman, face stained with tears, clutched her grandson's hand. His mother, Tracey McErlane, was beneath the rubble. "I am waiting on word of my lassie, she's in it," said the woman. "I do not know anything, they can't tell us anything at all." - (Guardian Service)