Lorraine Kelly says smell of aviation fuel triggers Lockerbie bombing memories 35 years on
14.11.2023 - 13:23
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Lorraine Kelly has said that the smell of aviation fuel triggers Lockerbie bombing memories, even after 35 years.
The Scots presenter was a young reporter when she arrived on the scene after a terrorist bomb was planted on Pan Am Flight 103, causing it to crash in Lockerbie on December 21, 1988.
The plane exploded mid-air over the Dumfries and Galloway market town, killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground.
Lorraine was the Scottish correspondent for TV-am at the time, and she saw first-hand the shocking aftermath. Now, 35 years on, she is revisiting the area and her memories for new documentary Return to Lockerbie with Lorraine Kelly.
Ahead of the programme airing, Lorraine joined Susanna Reid and Ed Balls in the GMB studio on Tuesday morning to talk about that fateful day, revealing that the smell of aviation fuel still triggers her.
Susanna said: "I know for you the smell of fuel, any aviation fuel, brings back those memories doesn't it?"
Lorraine replied: "It does bring it back, yes, it does. It really does, it's really bizarre. I don't feel like I was traumatised in any way as I was only reporting on it, I was just bearing witness if you like, but the trouble is something like that does stay with you.
"Gillian who I spoke to [in the documentary] she was only eight when it happened but it was years later, when she was a mother, that she was diagnosed with PTSD."
She added: "I was told by an expert that I probably suffered from that but I don't think I'm entitled to that because I was only witnessing it, but of course we all deal with trauma in different ways and at least these days we would recognise that and we would help."
Remember the horrifying scenes when she arrived at Lockerbie, Lorraine said: "We had to