LOCKERBIE, Scotland - Rescuers sent here to the site of Thurday's airplane crash found a hellish scene of blazing homes and streets jammed with debris. 

The town hall was turned into a makeshift morgue, and Sherwood Crescent - the village center that bore the brunt of the crash - was sealed off to traffic. 

Rescuers had to fly in and out by helicopter. Those not helping in the cleanup stood huddled and shellshocked from both the crash and a gale that raged all day. 

At regular intervals, a body was pulled from the rubble. Occasionally, a family was united with someone feared missing. 

``I could see several houses on the skyline whose roofs were totally off and all you could see was flaming timbers and what was left of the houses,'' said village resident Mike Carnahan. 

The flames sent up a pall of thick, choking smoke and the streets were littered with rocks and twisted pieces of metal. 

``Never, ever have I seen anything so appalling, so horrific as this,'' said former police inspector Archie Smith, who escaped from his home. 

Along a country road leading to Lockerbie, rescue parties could be seen examining pieces of smoking wreckage, and there were what looked like blanket-covered bodies, said Bert Houston, a Scottish journalist reporting for The Associated Press from Lockerbie. 

Electricity, telephones and traffic lights in the village were all out Wednesday night. 

Police and rescue vehicles were held up by traffic as roads leading to the site became jammed with motorists who were trying to get a glimpse of the disaster.