Stonehaven crash: 'They came out of meetings, they left their families, not really knowing what they were coming into'

A coastguard boss has paid tribute to the volunteers from his service who went to the scene of last week's fatal train crash near Stonehaven.

Ross Greenhill, coastal operations area commander for Grampian, says he had 49 officers at the site on Wednesday - the bulk of whom were volunteers.

They assisted the emergency services and winched casualties to safety using the coastguard helicopter.

You can hear Mr Greenhill's description of what was happening at the scene in our video above.

Speaking to Original 106, Mr Greenhill also highlighted the efforts of those who helped at the site.

He said: "Our volunteers are the key to what we do as an organisation, and without them we wouldn't be able to operate. I am extremely proud of the work that they all carried out and the professionalism with which they carried that out.

"They came out of meetings, they left their families, not really knowing what they were coming into, how long it would take, and whether they would even be going home that evening.

"For me, seeing them just do that and arriving on scene, and providing their time freely, is just amazing and we couldn't operate without that. Our volunteers really have done a sterling job."

Mr Greenhill says the public support for the emergency services in the wake of the incident has been "really heartening".

He continued: "It's always very nice for us to get a little bit of acknowledgement but it's not what we do it for, we do it because that's the kind of people we have working with us and it's something that we want to give back to the community.

"All the same we appreciate the support we've had from the community. Even things like providing food and refreshments for us while we were working, very much appreciated by everybody that was at the scene.

"I am immensely proud of all HM Coastguard officers who were at the scene, and those who were supporting from afar. It was a much wider event than just what was happening at the scene. Without them and their dedication and selflessness, we wouldn't have been able to provide the support we did to the other services.

"At the same time, to all the other emergency services that were there, everybody just got stuck in, everybody just got on with it, and it was really heartening to see.

"It just shows we work well together as a wider emergency services and some of the best emergency services available exist here - and I'm just so proud of everything that was done over the two days, obviously not withstanding people lost their lives. The best that could've been done, I believe, was done."