Eyewitness 'tackled' burning man

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An eyewitness at Glasgow Airport has told how he intervened to help tackle a man who was on fire and "fighting" with police officers.

Stephen Clarkson told the BBC he saw people panicking and running after a Cherokee jeep crashed into the airport.

He saw an Asian man lying on the ground with "flames coming from his body".

"It was just lucky that I was there, I managed to knock the man to the ground with my forearm and the police got on top of him and restrained him."

Others at the airport have been describing the scene outside the terminal.

Taxi driver Ian Crosby said he did not think it was an "accident... this was a deliberate attack".

He said he saw members of the public approach the driver and another man.

It looked like a bottle in his hand and it was definitely on fire in the top Simon Howard <a onClick="javascript:newsi.utils.av.launch({storyId:6257644, fileLoc: '/player/nol/newsid_6250000/newsid_6257600/', nbwm: 1,bbwm: 1,bbram: 1,nbram: 1});return false;" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6250000/newsid_6257600?redirect=6257644.stm&news=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nbram=1">Eyewitness account</a>

Richard Grey said some travellers watched the burning car before the terminal was evacuated.

"There was an Asian guy who'd been pulled out of the car by two police officers who he was trying to fight off," he said.

He added: "The car didn't actually explode, there was a few pops and bangs which was presumably the tyres and the petrol and we were just stood watching as there didn't seem to be any order at first, people in the car park opposite just watching what was going on as the car was burning."

Simon Howard described how he heard the driver crash the Jeep as he stood at a check-in desk ahead of a family holiday in Spain.

He said he looked around to see a second man leave the front passenger seat of the vehicle holding what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail.

"It looked like a bottle in his hand and it was definitely on fire in the top and that's when I grabbed my daughter and screamed to my wife 'run'," he said.

"He was trying to throw it, he was angling and putting his arm back as if he was going to throw it - I didn't wait to see if he did throw it."

'Black smoke'

Margaret Hughes said the car veered off a road that was not open to normal traffic.

"As soon as I left the building there was black smoke gushing out where the car had obviously been driven into the airport," she said.

An eyewitness said the car appeared to 'ram' the door

She said one of the men being led away by police appeared very calm.

"He seemed fairly composed, you could say almost in a state of shock," she said.

Scott Leeson, who was waiting to pick up a colleague, said he witnessed the crash.

He said: "The car came speeding past at about 30mph. It was approaching the building quickly.

"Then the driver swerved the car around so he could ram straight in to the door. He must have been trying to smash straight through.

"Luckily he did not get the car too far in. He just managed to get the nose of the Jeep inside."

He said an airport official had told him the men in the car got out and started throwing petrol about.

"Luckily my colleague and his family were delayed or they could have been coming out of that door at exactly that time," he added.

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