The wreckage of a helicopter that crashed into the sea leaving a pilot and his passenger dead has been hauled up cliffs so it can be examined by investigators.

The aircraft crashed into the North Sea next to the 250ft high cliffs at Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire, on Tuesday, killing pilot Brian Bridgman, 58, of Canterbury, Kent, and his passenger, John Kent, 50, of Romford, Essex.

The helicopter had taken off from an airfield near Edinburgh and was due to refuel at Humberside Airport before continuing to its destination near Retford, Nottinghamshire.

An investigation began on Tuesday led by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, supported by Humberside Police, but the operation has been hampered by fog.

Yesterday, parts of the fuselage were pulled up to the cliff top using a lorry-based crane and put on the back of a flat-bed truck.