Journalist PETER BAKER and photographer GRAHAM LIDDELL were this week given exclusive access to the site of the Stansted air disaster which happened on December 23 to view progress on the clear-up operation.

Across the wooded north Essex countryside big jets fly slow and low on their approach to Stansted - near enough for their markings to be seen through the March haze.

From where we stand among the remaining debris of the Korean Air Jumbo which crashed here exactly three months ago, the flypast seems like a solemn salute to that tragic moment and its victims.

Relatives of the four dead crew, whose remains have now been recovered and given Korean funeral rights, have been to the site for a private of ceremony.

The crash site at the edge of Hatfield Forest has been worked on largely by just five Agricultural Development and Advisory Service specialists.

Said Peter Pearson, Essex emergency planning officer in charge of coordinating the reinstatement of the devastated area: "The result at this point is remarkable."

The Chronicle was given exclusive access to the area, alongside Beggars Hall Lake, to see Essex Policing diving team at work in the latest move to clean-up the area.

The Hatfield Forest National Trust ancient woodland is now mostly re-opened to the public although the acrid smell of thousands of gallons of spilled aviation fuel still carries on the breeze.

By September a vast area of soil - one garden spade depth and equivalent to thousands of tonnes - is due to have been removed along the jet fuel contamination.

"The aircraft hit roughly vertically at 300 miles an hour into what was then wet clay, it's hard as rock now," said Mr Pearson.

"We still expect to find some heavy debris up to 20 feet below the bottom of the centre of the crater but we cannot get to it until the nearby lake is drained."

Three ingots of depleted uranium used as counterweights on the airframe are still missing - 17 have been recovered. Searchers expect to find them in the lake.

(Right) Muddy depths: A member of the Essex Police diving team awaits a final communications check before diving into the muddy depths of Beggars Hall lake on the edge of Hatfield Forest.

(Left) Clearance work: Charred tree stumps and bags of debris await removal as work continues three months after the crash.

(Below right) Impact point: Where the plane hit at 300 mph.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.