A man who rescued casualties from North Yorkshire’s worst rail crash died suddenly at home, an inquest has heard.
Charles Watkinson was 79 when he died on Good Friday, 3 April.
At an inquest opening in Northallerton yesterday, Mark Armitage, assistant coroner for York and North Yorkshire, described Mr Watkinson as a chief executive officer.
He was found in an outbuilding at his home in Long Lane, Great Heck, where death was confirmed at 3.38pm.
The provisional cause of death was given as multiple injuries.
YorkMix understands the Mr Watkinson kept his aircraft in the outbuilding, including a gyrocopter and a helicopter.
Mr Watkinson leaves a widow, Laura, three children and two grandchildren.
His home is close to the railway track. He was hailed a hero when he went into action after the Great Heck rail disaster in February 2001.
A commuter train struck the Land Rover of Gary Hart which had plunged off the M62 onto the East Coast Main Line.
It then collided with a freight train coming in the other direction shortly after 6am.
Mr Watkinson raced out of his home and told the BBC he was met with a scene of “absolute carnage”.
He spent the next two hours pulling people free of the wreckage. He told the Daily Mirror: “There were people with broken limbs and people in a lot of pain. Some of the people were clearly very badly injured.
“The carriages were unbelievably mangled. The whole site was a pile of scrap metal.
“It is hard to believe that a rail carriage can disintegrate in that way. It was just a wreck. The scene was one of devastation.”
He added: “It was an incredible, harrowing sight. I managed to pull a couple of people to safety.”
The inquest into the death of Mr Watkinson was adjourned until a later date.
