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Flaming Car Driven into Glasgow Airport
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by Jordan Yerman | June 30, 2007 at 08:32 am
854 views | 7 Recommendations | 7 comments
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Update: the hospitalized suspect did not die as previously reported; please see this post for more recent updates.
Update: (via CBC) The self-immolated man who was taken to the Royal Alexandria Hospital has died from his injuries. According to Chief Constable Sir Willie Rae, a "suspect device" was found at the hospital, which led to the evacuation of the Accident and Emergency wing of the hospital; Royal Alexandra Hospital is now fully re-opened. Glasgow International Airport remains closed.
Meanwhile, news commentators are now freely using the T-word in describing this incident, and Rae is claiming a link between this incident and the attempted car bombings in London yesterday.
he United Kingdom raised its terrorism threat level to critical, the highest level possible, Saturday after a vehicle plowed into the terminal building at Scotland's busiest airport and burst into flames.
Authorities at the highest levels are assuming the fiery incident in Glasgow is directly linked to the discovery Friday of two explosives-laden cars in London.
One of two men who drove the car into the terminal's main entrance later died of burns at a hospital.
Stephen Raeburn, a freelance reporter in Glasgow, is telling CBC News that one of the men attempted to throw a molotov cocktail into the terminal building, and that the other man set the vehicle and himself on fire deliberately. Evidently, the hostpital to which that second man has been taken has been evacuated; the reason for this is unclear.
A car on fire has been driven at the main terminal building at Glasgow Airport, police have confirmed.Eyewitnesses have described a Jeep Cherokee being driven at speed towards the building with flames coming out from underneath.
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A Whitehall spokesman said the incident was not being treated as a national security threat.
One eyewitness said: "I heard the sound of a car's wheels spinning and smoke coming out.
"I saw a Jeep Cherokee apparently as if it was trying to get right through the doors into the terminal building.
"There were flames coming out from underneath then some men appeared from in amongst the flames.
"The police ran over and the people started fighting with the police. I then heard what sounded like an explosion."
Police and witnesses described an SUV-style vehicle in flames being driven at full speed towards the building.
Two people were arrested at the scene, police said in a statement.
The incident comes with the UK already on alert for terror attacks a day after two cars loaded with explosives were discovered in London.
An eyewitness at the airport speaking to a British TV network said there appeared to be injuries. Images showed black smoke and flames rising from the vehicle just outside the building.
Witnesses said the car crashed into security barriers protecting an entrance to the airport's international arrivals terminal.
A witness told Sky News that a man had fled from the car as it struck the building and been immediately wrestled to the ground by police.
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Jordan Yerman
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (7)
at 08:36 on June 30th, 2007
jordan, thanks for getting this story out so quickly. It will now show up on the home page for four hours. If new developments justify it, I'll renew this flag for another cycle.
at 13:02 on June 30th, 2007
It would appear the entire United Kingdom is under siege. Really good stuff J...and as to why the entire hospital was evacuated, in plain terms, I'd say fear of the unknown-you never know who'd come calling to fetch one of theirs.
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I just took a proper look-see at that jeep and the associated reportage, I'm having second thoughts about it being a terrorist attack. It's not like the car was bomb-crumpled or anything and two guys in it wouldn't make any sense for a suicide-bombing strategy, whereas the second man could be diabolically deployed to some other 'mission'. And then we are being told the car was travelling at about 30 mph-now that's quite unusual, I would think for a suicide bomber the speed would be much higher than that! Quite some stuff to ponder. Is someone trying to stampede the Brits into a false sense of insecurity or what with all the talk of pulling out of Iraq? Is some message being sent to Brown as to the consequences if he does? Methinks something really strange is going on here.
at 14:08 on June 30th, 2007
Great job jordan.
You almost have to wonder if it was just a random act or a diversion? I have heard the U.S. Airports have boost security (via radio and internet news sources), This is the last step (i believe) before the U.S steps up it threat level officially. Is this related to yesterdays incidents in London and if they are all related, what is the main goal out side of general harm to innocent people and havoc to england? Out of all the events in the past two days this one actually happened and was not foiled in some way or form. Prime minister Brown may be part of the reasons for this and a tests to his new position as prime minister as a whole. For me that would be dumb anda poor tests to try out on England or the UK.
I really hope this is the last incident, But it seems that who ever is doing this has a goal of goals this weekend and will not be stopping any time soon unless they find everyone involved and get to them before the goal is met.
at 14:45 on June 30th, 2007
It is indeed strange... both yesterday's and today's attacks were amateurish at best: cars full of petrol don't really explode as they do in action movies. Perhaps the UK got lucky that both acts were so poorly carried out. Meanwhile, we see that the "theatre of security" is no match for real vigilance: both yesterday's and today's incidents had an everyday person getting involved, and neither involved shampoo or iPods.
at 14:53 on June 30th, 2007
The UK has a long history of terror attacks, though mainly they involve mere threats or realtively low-impact attacks, as opposed to headline-grabbing megaterror. I'm no expert on the subject, but it's possible that this local history is what influenced the perpetrators of these acts: they knew that all they had to do was cause major disruption, and a fireball will do that as much as a huge explosion will. In the case of the Jeep, though, it's really weird that they'd remain with the vehicle (rather than just park it as in London) when it's clear that it wouldn't explode spectacularly-- they were virtually guaranteed to be taken alive.
at 16:43 on June 30th, 2007
jordan, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 16:47 on June 30th, 2007
well ...I think it is a real paranoid situation, and this could get real bad soon. The solution and more security is not almost for sure has to be hand in hand in my opinion. but I am no politician to make decisions...
anyway...hope more communication could make the whole thing somehow better....