Eyewitnesses told of the crashing plane skimming over a football field, a noise like a bomb blast and a fireball as it hit the houses and then screaming people fleeing for their lives.

Jamie Foot, 17 and his sister Jodie, 15, were home alone in Broadwater Gardens. They heard an "almighty bang".

Jamie said: "I was sitting on the settee watching TV and there was an almighty bang and explosion, so I looked through the patio doors and saw the plane go straight into the back of the house.

"There was a massive explosion and a fireball. I called my sister and we got out of the house as fast as we could. People were everywhere screaming and running down the road."

~ Terror fell out of the sky - how the horror unfolded >>>

His sister, Jodie added: "There was a big cloud of smoke and I saw a woman running, carrying her kids in her arms."

Donna Murrell, a 25-year-old mother-of-two saw the plane heading straight towards her house.

She said: "The plane was coming straight towards our home and we thought it was coming into the house. My husband saw the people in the plane so it was pretty close."

She laid flowers at the scene on Monday wth her two children Kiera, seven, and Sophie, five.

Martin Muscatt, 44, who lives nearby, ran to the scene to help people escape from their houses.

He said: "The explosion was massive - it was like a bomb went off. It created a mass ball of fire and smoke."

Gary Wallcraft, 16, was playing football with his friends, at nearby Darrick Wood sports field, as the plane tried to land. He was so close he could see the pilots' faces.

"It went over just a few feet above my head," he said. "It was so close if I just threw my football above my head it would have touched the plane. The force of it going by knocked my mate over and it just happened so quickly.

"It carried on and clipped a tree then I heard a huge bang and saw the smoke. I rushed round to the scene to see if I could help. If they'd have landed on the field, I think the people in the plane might have been okay."