The Lucky Eight
Chapters (64)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Prologue
- Five Years Later
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
- Forty-nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-one
- Fifty-two
- Fifty-three
- Fifty-four
- Fifty-five
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgements
- Canelo Crime
- About the Author
- Also by Sheila Bugler
Cover
Dedication
To my parents, Harry and Adrienne, for everything they’ve done for me. Love you both so much and have missed seeing you over the last year!
Prologue
The Lucky Eight
One week after a passenger plane crashed at Gatwick airport, the nation is still coming to terms with the event that has devastated so many lives. One hundred and sixty people died when Air Euro flight 975 tumbled during landing. After touching down too far along the runway, the pilots pulled up to attempt a second landing but the plane quickly lost speed and crashed back down, with devastating consequences. In aviation terms, this second attempt to land a plane is known as ‘go-around’.
Air Euro issued a statement earlier this week in which they said:
A go-around is a standard aircraft manoeuvre which simply discontinues an approach to landing. Go-arounds ensure passengers and aircraft are not placed in potentially dangerous situations. At this stage, we do not have further information about what caused the crash.
The dead consist of 153 passengers and seven airline staff. Three of the flight attendants were ejected from the plane’s tail section when the aircraft hit the ground. The remaining flight attendant, Shelly Clarkson, repeatedly risked her life as she attempted to evacuate the surviving passengers from the burning wreckage. Air Euro have described Ms Clarkson’s work to free trapped passengers and help them to safety as ‘heroic’.
Among the dead are Irish actress Vivienne Kinsella, whose sister, Clodagh, is one of only eight people who survived the crash. She remains in hospital in a critical condition. Celebrity chef, Nick Gilbert, is another one of the ‘lucky eight’. He had been returning to the UK from a week-long holiday in Crete with a group of friends who included the pilot, Gary Wakefield. The Gilbert family released a statement earlier this week in which they thanked Shelly Clarkson for saving Nick’s life. The chef sustained serious injuries in the crash. His family described his condition as ‘serious but stable’.
The troubled flight had already run into a string of difficulties before it ever took off from Heraklion airport. Prior to take-off, it was delayed for over ten hours because of a technical issue. During this time, the captain fell ill with food poisoning. Air Euro have confirmed that they then asked Mr Wakefield, due to be on the flight as a passenger, to take over as captain. It’s not yet clear if this last-minute replacement had anything to do with the crash.
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Five Years Later
One
Day One
Clodagh squeezed her eyes shut and breathed slowly, counting each breath the way she’d been taught. Forcing her mind to focus on nothing except the rise and fall of her diaphragm.