It looked like a scene from a disaster movie.

Debris crashing down to the ground. A helicopter cart-wheeling out of control. Streets and cars set on fire by burning fuel.

One moment a stream of rush-hour traffic was crawling to work in the fog.

The next, people ran for their lives, screaming in fear, desperately trying to find shelter from what one woman described as 'a meteor shower' of flaming metal raining down.