Four bodies recovered from crash site

Four bodies have been recovered from the crash site of a British registered PA-28 which had disappeared en route Gloucester airport to Kilrush Airfield in Co. Kildare. The aircraft, G-BGTJ, msn 28-7405083, had departed the UK airport on Saturday morning just before 10.00am but failed to land at Kilrush.

It is understood that the dead are pilot Sharif Booz, his wife Margaret, their teenage son and a friend of the family. Mr. Booz had made regular trips to Kilrush airfield over the past 6 or 7 years to visit relatives in Newbridge.

The aircraft was being monitored by Dublin ATC and was handed off to Kilrush airfield around 12.15pm on Saturday and was last seen on radar at approximately 12.30pm over the Wicklow mountains. The alarm was raised by a family member around 6pm, concerned at the non appearance of the aircraft.

At 06.30am a search involving Garadi, Defence Forces, Coastguard and mountain rescue personnel began. The wreckage was discovered shortly before 10am in a densely wooded area south of Holywood village known as Corrie Barracks and Church Mount. The aircraft had crashed in bogland and had penetrated the ground to 30% of it's length. Two units of the Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport attended the scene. The bodies were removed to Naas General Hospital where post portems will be carried out.