A SENIOR North-East council official who survived the Great Heck rail tragedy, last night spoke of his sorrow for those who were not so fortunate.

David Miller, Durham County Council's head of environment services, was travelling in Coach H of the London-bound Inter-City train when it de-railed after the double collision.

After being struck by the passing goods train, the coach careered down an embankment before coming to a halt, "after what seemed like forever".

Mr Miller, bleeding from numerous cuts and badly shaken, was unaware of precisely what had happened, or the full impact of the incident.

He managed to jump down from the coach through a gap where the door had come off, and helped other survivors to clamber from the wreckage, before making his way to a nearby farmyard.

There, he and about 15 other passengers waited in "eerie silence" for help to arrive.

Mr Miller said it was not until later that he could bring himself to look back at the devastation and realise how fortunate he was to have escaped relatively unscathed.

Speaking at the home of his son in Leeds, where he is staying after the crash, Mr Miller said: "The whole tragic episode makes you realise that life hangs by a thread.

"I was thrown about in the compartment and people who had previously been sitting nearby had simply disappeared by the time the carriage eventually came to a halt.

"I suppose I was one of the fortunate people who just happened to be sitting in a luckier seat.

"I've looked at the photographs in the newspapers of the scene of the crash and can identify with all those who suffered more than I did and feel equally sorry for GNER, whose mighty train was smashed in an instant through no fault of their own."

Mr Miller was travelling to London on council business on Wednesday and was one of a handful of passengers who boarded the train at Durham station at around 5am.

His wife Catharina, who was lecturing in Sweden at the time of the crash, is making her way back to Britain, to be with him.