After the Stockholm show, the band hopped on the tour bus and into their bunks for the long drive to Copenhagen. On board were the four band members, along whith drum tech Flemming Larsen, guitar assistants John Marshall and Aidan Mullen, and road manager Bobby Schneider. The driver, an englishmen who had been hired for the duration of the multi-country tour, was behind the wheel. About 6.30 a.m. (when they had reached Dörarp, north of Ljungby; on the E4) the band members were awakened by a violent jolt. The vehicle had been in an accident, and was now lying on its side. How did it happend? John recaps the horror, and sheds some light on the question of what exactly occurred. "We were on a two-lane road. The bus went off to the right, and I think the driver overcorrected, cranking the wheel to the left to get us back on the road. The wheel grabbed, and the bus swung completely around. During this time, the tail of the bus was sliding, kind of fish-tailing around and bouncing on its wheel. That was right when we all started to wake up. I think I bounced right out of my bunk. The bunks were like trays whith foam in them. The foam was held in place by a wooden lip. When the bus started rocking, my back bounced across that lip. Afterwards, I could baerly walk, it hurt so bad. The bus eventually slid to the dirt alongside the road. When the wheels caught, the bus rolled over on its side." Schneider had broked two ribs. Lars had broken a toe. Kirk's eye was blackened. Kirk, who'd blacked out after being thrown from his bunk, snapped to consciousnenss and made his way through a side emergency hatch. Outside, his eyes widened at the sight of Cliff, his body limp and lifeless, pinned under the bus. Cliff Burton, master bass playing, composer, rage and bandmate, was dead. "Cliff was the top of the right rear bunk, and I think that if the bus was bouncing around, he was sort of pushed through the window," speculates John. "Then when the vehicle fell over on it's right side, he was halfway out the window and it fell over him". Meanwhile, the bunks had toppled like matchsticks, teetering into one another and collapsing into what resembled a pile of kindling. Mullen and Larsen, who'd also slept in right-side bunks, were pinned under the rubble for nearly three hours before the fire department jacked up the debris and rescued them. "When the bus first stopped on it's side" continues John, "I remember hearing this noise that sounded like water. I was afraid we'd landed in a creek and were halfway underwater. But the noise was only that of the motor still running". Whitin minutes, John and the band had pulled themselves from the bus and were huddling outside. "We were all sitting out there in 35 degree weather, whit me in my socks and underwear before someone gave me a blnket. I remember Kirk and James yelling at the driver. By then, everyone had begun to realize that something was wrong whit Cliff. I remember James walking up the road a bit to see if there was ice on the road, beacuse the driver had claimed he'd slid over a sheet of ice. Kirk was cryin. "When I asked what he remembers of the rest of the nightmarish evning, James poignantly responds, "I just recall our tour manager Bobby saying,'Okay, let's get the band together and take them back to the hotel'. The only thing I could think was,'The band? No way! There ain't no band. The band is not "the band" right now. It's just three guys". John who was routed to the emergency room of a nearby hospital, remembers coming to realization that something was wery wrong. "I remember Bobby lyin' next to me, as they were taking blood pressure and stuff, and saying , 'Cliff's gone you know'. All of a sudden, the reality of everything hit me. Right then, I looked above, at the ceiling, and thanked whoever was up there that nobody else had been seriously hurt, and that it hadn't turned out even worse than it was". By afternoon, band and crew had checked into hotel. The dazed group dealt whith their anxiety in the manner they were most accustomed to: drinking. James broke two hotel windows and screamd, venting his rage. John remembers that he and Kirk were so shaken up that they slept whit the lights on in their room that night. Two days later, Metallica, minus one, returned to America. Back To Cliff's Section