Fears were growing for Scottish rally driver Colin McRae after a helicopter crashed on land near his home. The 39-year-old is a licensed pilot and owns a helicopter, which he flies in the area.
But Strathclyde Police said they were unable to confirm how many people were on board the aircraft which went down at Jerviswood, about one mile north of Lanark.
A statement from the police confirmed there were "no survivors". "It is not known how many people were on board at this time and there will be no formal identification of anyone on board tonight.
"The Air Accidents Investigation team are en route to establish the cause of the crash."
Campbell Roy, a member of McRae's management team, told the Sunday Mail newspaper: "I haven't had anything confirmed and at the moment it's speculation. I'm waiting to speak to the family to find out exactly what's happened."
A spokesman for the RAF confirmed that the helicopter was not a military aircraft but one of its own helicopters was on stand-by to assist. The helicopter did not come from either Glasgow or Edinburgh Airport, according to a spokesman for the British Airports Authority.
A Strathclyde Police spokeswoman said officers were trying to establish who was on board and where the helicopter was travelling to and from.
"The damage has been so bad that we don't know how many people were on board. It might be one, it might be more. We just don't know at the moment." She added that it could be some time before official identifications could be made.
McRae became the first Briton to win the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1995 and hails from a well-known motor racing family in Scotland.
His father, Jimmy, is a five-time British rally champion and his brother, Alister, is also former British rally champion. Colin McRae is married to Alison and has two children, Hollie and Johnny. As well as winning the world championship driving a Subaru in 1995, he was runner-up in 1996, 1997 and 2001.
