Emergency responders have been thanked for their bravery at the scene of the fatal Aberdeenshire train crash by the Prince of Wales.
Prince Charles visited the site near Stonehaven, where three people died on Wednesday after carriages of the 6.38am Aberdeen to Glasgow Queen Street ScotRail service derailed amid heavy rain and landslips.
He met with emergency responders including Pc Liam Mercer and Pc Eilidh McCabe, who were the first officers on the scene, and commended them on their bravery.
Members of the police, fire service, Coastguard and Network Rail spoke of their experiences dealing with the incident and the sight of burning carriages.
READ MORE: Three killed in train derailment named by police
Driver Brett McCullough, 45, conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62, all lost their lives in the incident.
It is understood all of those who died were local to the area.
Six other people were injured in the crash – four have since left Aberdeen Royal Infirmary while two remain in a stable condition.
The wife of train driver Mr McCullough issued a statement on behalf of the grieving family: "Brett was a much-loved husband, father, son and uncle who will be sorely missed by all.
"It is an extremely difficult time for us as a family and we would ask for privacy as we try to come to terms with our horrendous loss."
The family of Mr Dinnie, 58, called him "loving and proud".
Their statement read: "As a family we are devastated by the sudden and tragic loss of Donald, a loving and proud dad, son, partner, brother, uncle and friend.
"No words could ever describe how much he will be missed by us all and there will always be a missing piece in our hearts.
READ MORE: Train derails in Aberdeenshire as emergency services race to the scene
"It is so heartwarming to see how many people have fond memories of Donald and I am sure they have plenty of happy and funny stories to tell. He was a kind, caring and genuine person who was never found without a smile on his face. We know he will be deeply missed by all.
"Together we thank each and every one of you for your kind words and condolences but we kindly ask at this time that we have the chance to grieve privately as a family."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel