GARRY Rhodes, the Tyldesley-based leader of Bolton Mountain Rescue Team, was among the first people to reach Tuesday night's helicopter crash site on Anglezarke Moor in which three people died.
Mr Rhodes described the scene as truly horrible.
More than 30 volunteers took to the moors to find survivors of the crash.
Mr Rhodes joined a police officer and a doctor who were taken to the site less than an hour after an RAF helicopter crew located the wreckage.
He said: "It was a horrible sight but the helicopter was mainly in one piece.
"It was upsetting to the rescue team because it was such a sad outcome.
"There was tremendous team work from all the emergency services."
The rescue team used two search dogs and were joined by colleagues from the Rossendale and Bowland-Pennine teams.
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