Lang
As darkness has fallen here on the M1, arclights have been erected over the crash scene, illuminating the crumpled aircraft which still lies amongst the trees on the motorway embankment. For the moment, nightfall has put an end to the search operation, but it'll resume at dawn tomorrow. Meanwhile, a police guard will keep watch over the site throughout the night. Since early this morning, air accident investigators have been sifting through the wreckage, and this afternoon they were joined by a team from Boeing, the plane's manufacturers, who've flown in from the United States. The aircraft won't be moved until those investigations are finished, and that's likely to take some time. Throughout today, there's been a constant stream of ministerial visits to the crash site. The Transport Secretary, Paul Channon, was the first to arrive. He was followed this afternoon by the Prime Minister and Northern Ireland Secretary, Tom King. Mrs Thatcher spent about half an hour here talking to rescue workers and officials. Afterwards, she was asked by waiting reporters for her impressions of the scene:
Thatcher Act
It is even more horrific than it looks in the pictures, because you're here actually seeing it. We think that everyone must have been very, very courageous. Mr. Bishop of British Midland was here extremely quickly. Everyone was on emergency at Castle Donnington and all the services were on emergency. Everything possible is being done to find out the cause of the crash.
Lang
Afterwards, Mrs. Thatcher went on to visit some of the injured in hospital.