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Snowdonia crash: five bodies found in helicopter wreckage Snowdonia helicopter crash: five people from same family killed
(about 2 hours later)
The bodies of five people have been found in Snowdonia in the wreckage of a helicopter that disappeared en route from the UK to Ireland, police have said. Five people from the same family have been killed in a helicopter crash in north Wales.
Seven mountain rescue teams, police officers and search dogs were deployed to look for the aircraft in north Wales after it went missing on Wednesday. The flight had five people on board. Two of those thought to have been on board were named locally as construction businessman Kevin Burke, 57, and his wife, Ruth, from Hulcote, Milton Keynes. They were travelling with three other family members to Dublin where, it is understood, they were to attend a christening.
The privately owned helicopter vanished from radar screens during a trip from Bedfordshire to Dublin via Caernarfon in north Wales. It is thought it was descending to try to get under low cloud as conditions worsened on Wednesday afternoon. A North Wales police spokesman confirmed the five victims, all adults, were part of the same extended family from the Milton Keynes area.
North Wales police are not revealing the exact location until the bodies are recovered in what the force has described as difficult and challenging terrain. The bodies were found with the wreckage of a red Twin Squirrel helicopter following a massive air and land search launched on Wednesday afternoon when the aircraft vanished after taking off from a private address in the Luton area.
Two people feared to be on the helicopter are Kevin and Ruth Burke, according to reports. Their identities have not been confirmed by police. The couple are directors of Staske Construction , which is the registered owner of a red Twin Squirrel, and are from Hulcote, near Milton Keynes, close to where the helicopter took off at Luton. The couple are directors of the Staske Construction company, which is the registered owner of a Twin Squirrel. Kevin Burke, a qualified pilot, was believed to originally be from Manchester, while his wife was from Dublin.
The Press Association reported that a woman who answered the company phone said: “We are not going to talk to you, we are not going to talk to anybody regarding the crash.” The couple have a daughter, 19, and son, 14, it was reported. A spokesman for the family told the Milton Keynes Citizen: “Six children have lost their parents in this tragedy. At this stage the family wants to be left alone to be able to deal with their grief over this terrible loss and concentrate on looking after the children.”
Another neighbour, Richard Mann, 78, told the Press Association both he and Kevin Burke had previously been Hulcote and Salford parish councillors. A mountain rescue team found the wreckage in the Rhinog mountains in what the force described as difficult and challenging terrain. Weather conditions were described as “atrocious” with search teams operating with visibility of less than 10 metres.
“They moved into the house just before Christmas, they have been building it. Kevin, I think, is a very astute businessman, outgoing – hail fellow well met – always seemed very cheery,” he said. He said it had been a “total shock” hearing the news. Efforts to recover the bodies were proving difficult, and faced being suspended overnight, due to worsening weather conditions, and formal identification of the bodies had not yet taken place. A force spokesman said: “Owing to the nature and remoteness of the terrain, the poor weather conditions and the absolute need to carry out this delicate task with sensitivity and dignity, it may take some time.”
Supt Gareth Evans said: “The aircraft, a red Twin Squirrel helicopter, had failed to arrive in Dublin from Luton yesterday afternoon, instigating a full sea and then land search-and-rescue operation. Kevin Burke, a former deputy chairman of Hulcote and Salford parish councils, was described by one source as an experienced pilot who flew to Manchester almost daily.
“Initially, its last known position was believed ‘over sea’ in the Caernarfon Bay area, but this was then narrowed to a land-based search coordinated by North Wales police in Snowdonia involving all local and RAF mountain rescue teams. Neighbours said the couple had moved into their house just before Christmas. Richard Mann, 78, told the Press Association, it had been a “total shock” hearing the news.
“Local conditions were described as atrocious, with visibility down to less than 10 metres in places.” Supt Gareth Evans said: “The aircraft, a red Twin Squirrel helicopter, had failed to arrive in Dublin from Luton yesterday [Wednesday] afternoon, instigating a full sea and then land search-and-rescue operation.
He added: “Families of those on board the aircraft are being supported by specialist police family liaison officers.” “Initially, its last known position was believed ‘over sea’ in the Caernarfon Bay area, but this was then narrowed to a land-based search coordinated by North Wales police in Snowdonia involving all local and RAF mountain rescue teams.”
The incident is being investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Branch. He added: “Formal identification has not taken place so details of the passengers are not being revealed at this time. Families of those on board the aircraft are being supported by specialist police family liaison officers. The incident is being investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Branch.”
Officials have refused to comment on reports that the helicopter was routinely rented out to film crews. Police are appealing for help from the public and asked anyone who sighted the aircraft flying over Snowdonia on Wednesday to contact the force.
The coastguard said the helicopter was believed to have left Luton on Wednesday. Air traffic controllers lost radar contact with the helicopter and notified the coastguard at 4.15pm.
Coastguard helicopters based at Caernarfon and St Athan carried out a search of fields and airfields in north Wales and the route across the Irish Sea the helicopter was most likely to have taken.
All vessels passing through the Irish Sea were told to look out for the missing aircraft. On Thursday morning, the coastguard commander Mark Rodaway said the search had moved inland.
The Eurocopter AS355 Écureuil 2, known as the Twin Squirrel, and now made by Airbus, is a widely used twin-engine light utility helicopter, which has a reputation for durability and requiring low maintenance.
Introduced in the mid-1970s, the all-weather aircraft evolved through several variations and has both civil and military applications.
With a cruising speed of 140mph and a range of nearly 440 miles (700km), the model is used for extended low-level flights, such as when filming and surveying.