Lorraine Kelly says Lockerbie was like 'a war zone' when she reported on 1988 bombing

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Lorraine Kelly said Lockerbie was like a “war zone” when she covered the 1988 bombing tragedy.

The presenter was one of the first TV reporters on the scene after Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the town in Scotland 35 years ago.

Read more: PTSD signs and treatment as Lorraine Kelly says she suffered following Lockerbie bombing

She has since returned to Lockerbie for a new documentary, in which she discovered she had experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after covering the bombing, which killed all 259 passengers and crew on the plane and 11 people on the ground.

In a new interview on This Morning, Kelly spoke openly about her personal experience of reporting on the ground of the bombing as she likened it to a "war zone".

What, how, and why?

Opening up on This Morning, Kelly told of the impact it had on her and how thankful she was to be able to talk it through with her cameraman husband Steve Smith, who was also there.

"To be honest it felt like a war zone," she told hosts Craig Doyle and Alison Hammond.

"It’s the nearest I think anybody would ever come to experiencing what sadly our forces have to experience. It was like that.

"In a way because it was so utterly unreal it didn’t quite hit you at the time and of course back then there wasn’t counselling offered to anybody who was affected by it or anybody who lost somebody or experienced it."

Hammond noted that Kelly had suffered nightmares, and the TV presenter agreed it had an impact on her.

"Of course it affects you, of course it does… it's more than just a story you are covering," she said.

Kelly also shared how lucky she was that she was about to talk it through with people at the time.

"I was lucky that I was able to talk to my husband because he was there as well… he and I were able to talk about it," she said.

"And I was able to talk about it with my dad. My dad picked me up on Christmas Day and you know, the usual, ‘You won’t want to talk about this’ and I spent the whole journey back to Glasgow just talking about it.”

What did Lorraine Kelly say in her documentary?

In her documentary Return To Lockerbie, Kelly spoke to psychiatrist Gordon Turnbull who is an expert on PTSD and worked in Lockerbie with emergency services and local residents.

She explained: “I was getting flashbacks and nightmares where I was almost above that horrible scene. Going back I’ve found I've been thinking about it. There have been a lot of dreams or nightmares I should say.”

The psychiatrist told Kelly that flashbacks and nightmares were the “corner stones” of PTSD.

But she admitted she didn’t feel she was “allowed” to have a condition like that when she was just a reporter there.

He told her: “By saying you're not entitled you are separating yourself from the event. You have to stop avoiding Lockerbie to heal.”

“All these years I’ve been telling myself you are not entitled to have PTSD, you’re not allowed, actually that’s the norm,” said Kelly.

“That’s my brain dealing with something so horrendous that I’ve been pushing it away for 35 years."

What is PTSD?

The NHS says post-traumatic stress disorder "is an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events".

Its website says sufferers often relive the traumatic event through nightmares and flashbacks, and they may experience feelings of guilt, isolation and irritability.

"They may also have problems sleeping, such as insomnia, and find concentrating difficult," said the site, noting that the symptoms "are often severe and persistent enough to have a significant impact on the person's day-to-day life".

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