More than 10 years on from the Clutha disaster, former Scottish Labour leader, Jim Murphy, has been re-united with a woman he helped that night.
The former Secretary of State for Scotland was one of the many people standing outside the Glasgow pub in 2013 when a helicopter crashed into it killing 12 people.
Mr Murphy had been on his way to meet friends on the night of November 29 and was one of the first on the scene close to the Clyde.
He helped an unconscious woman who had been pulled from the rubble, and laid her on the ground before she disappeared. However, amongst the chaos, she had disappeared.
Now, thanks to an episode of a BBC Radio 4 series, Murphy has finally been able to the put the situation to rest in his mind after being reunited with the woman – Nancy Primrose.
The Reunion, which airs on Sunday September 1, brings together people who were intimately involved in that moment of modern history to exchange their memories and differing perspectives. It was during the programme, when both Nancy and Jim realised that they had encountered each other that night.
Murphy says on the show: “From what Nancy is telling us today it sounds like it was [her].”
“I am so delighted and relieved I came today because the last time I met you was at the Clutha for a few fleeting seconds, and I left you on the cold concrete, but here you are alive and well and full of spirit.”
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Murphy had not put Nancy in the recovery position that night, and only realised after she was gone. He has spent years wondering what happened to her, racked with anxiety about her fate.
But Nancy replied to Jim, saying: ““You could only do what you could do. You went back to help get other people out.” And: “I think everybody that night that went in were all heroes, including yourself.”
The Reunion, presented by Kirsty Wark, also features four other people whose lives were affected by the disaster: Alan Crossan, who owns the Clutha, Mary Kavanagh, a customer whose partner Robert Jenkins died at the scene, Pat O’Meara, who led the ambulance emergency response team, and Stephen Wright, a firefighter who led the urban search and rescue team.
To read more about Jim Murphy’s encounter, he talks with Herald writer Dani Garavelli in more depth in today’s paper.
The Clutha Helicopter Crash - The Reunion will air on BBC Radio 4 at 10am on Sunday
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