RESCUERS from Eden and North Yorkshire took part in the massive rescue effort to try to find survivors buried beneath the rubble of the Glasgow factory disaster, reports Ellis Butcher.

David Watt, of Kirkby Stephen, and Phil Haigh, of Ingleton, were among those leading sniffer dogs around the flattened remains of the Stockline Plastics building in Maryhill this week.

Eight people died and more than 40 were injured after the explosion at noon on Tuesday, the cause of which has not yet been established, Mr Watt, 56, headed for the site with seven-year-old Border Collie Dynamite, within minutes of hearing the news at his home at Ladthwaite, near Kirkby Stephen.

The pair usually work together with the Lake District branch of the Search and Rescue Dog Association, as well as Kirkby Stephen Mountain Rescue Team, but attended the incident as individuals because of their experience in rubble searching.

Mr Watt told the Gazette they were deployed immediately to work with the Trossach dog handling team for 12 hours from Tuesday until around 2am on Wednesday before starting again at 5am.

He told how Dynamite picked up a scent and, as was practice, the dog was withdrawn and the area marked.

Later, two other dogs were run across the suspected site and they too indicated a scent.

Extra personnel with high-tech equipment were then deployed to search the area and later a dead body was brought free.

Mr Watt said: "It just builds up a picture for all the resources at that area. It is a big responsibility but it's a team effort. If anything, it's the dogs that are the heroes."

Of the difficulties in searching, he said: "Until this incident happened there were people everywhere in that building and lots of human scent. Sometimes, you don't know for sure if your dog is indicating because it's an item of clothing, or a live person or a dead person.

"It was very dusty and we were warned about asbestos. We had to wear a mask but, of course, the dogs couldn't. It was the usual - glass, wire, nails sticking out everywhere, it was highly hazardous."

Mr Watt said even when the dogs did not detect a scent, it was useful as the rescue effort could then be concentrated on another area, and unsafe sections could be pulled down.

Meanwhile Mr Haigh, of Ingleton, was called to the disaster on Wednesday.

As the chairman of Canis, a team which trains and uses dogs specifically to find people buried under collapsed buildings, he headed to the disaster with dog Shannon.

Mr Haigh and Shannon searched areas but no survivors were found, although there was hope a final person unaccounted for would be located alive.

Speaking from the scene yesterday (Thursday), Mr Haigh said: "At the moment they will continue searching for a live body, it is still a rescue at the moment, not recovery."

He added: "Obviously where the building has come down it is quite devastating. It has collapsed, with rubble and the roof hanging down. It looks a bit like a demolition site.

Of the rescue operation, he said: "There is just a determination to try to get the job done as quickly as possible and hopefully with some success. At the end of the day, you do so many of these you have to take it on the nose, I have been doing it for that long."

In January, Mr Haigh helped in the Iran earthquake where more than 40,000 people died.

Firemaster Brian Sweeney, who co-ordinated the rescue effort, said: "I am really grateful to David and Phil for the contribution that they, and their dogs, made to the effort to rescue people trapped in the wreckage of the factory. They are typical of the rescuers who come from all over the UK to help our efforts in this dreadful incident.

"Rescue dogs have been extensively used during this rescue operation they play a vital role by saving time in searching for people who may be beneath the rubble."