Two of the men injured in an air crash at Cork airport yesterday have been released from hospital. An investigation into the incident in which four passengers and two pilots died is continuing today.
The investigation began immediately after the incident, which occurred shortly before 10am as the plane attempted to land in dense fog. The Manx2 airline flight from Belfast to Cork overturned and caught fire while making a third attempt to land at about 9.45am.
President Mary McAleese spoke last night of the pain felt by families, including her own, after the crash.
A relative of Mrs McAleese’s husband Martin and two Northern Ireland businessmen were among the dead, while six other passengers were injured when a small aircraft carrying 12 people crashed in dense fog.
Four people injured in the crash are still being treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries at Cork University Hospital. But survivors Donal Walsh and Laurence Wilson have this afternoon been discharged.
The men expressed their gratitude to the staff at the hospital for the "wonderful care and support we have received" since the crash.
In a statement, Mr Wilson and Mr Walsh expressed their condolences to the families of the six people who died in the incident. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this very difficult time," they said.
They also paid tribute to the emergency services for their efforts following the crash. "If it wasn't for their swift action, the loss of life would have been greater."
The pilot of the plane was last night named as Jordi Lopez, a Spanish national, and the co-pilot was an English national, Andrew Cantle. The four passengers who died were Richard Noble from Yorkshire, Pat Cullinan from Belfast, Michael Evans from Belfast and Brendan McAleese from Ballymena.
A book of condolences opened at Cork City Hall today for the victims of the crash.
Speaking on RTÉ radio this morning, Manx2 chief executive Noel Hayes expressed his condolences to the victims of the crash. Mr Hayes, who later travelled to Cork from Belfast, said the aircraft involved in the incident had no recent technical issues and underwent a routine maintenance check last week.
"As far as I'm aware the plane was fully airworthy and I have no reason to believe there was any issues at all with the mechanical condition of the plane. Our aircraft are all highly maintained," he said.
Arriving at Cork airport, Mr Hayes declined to comment on whether the aircraft was properly equipped to land in dense fog. He signed a book of condolence at the airport before travelling to see the four survivors at Cork University Hospital along with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
An initial report into the cause of the crash is expected within a month. The Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) at the Department of Transport said a draft report of “one or two pages” could be concluded relatively quickly while the full report could be up to two years in preparation.
Two teams of investigators were dispatched within hours of the crash, the first travelling by helicopter from the military airfield at Baldonnel in Co Dublin. A second team with specialist equipment travelled by road to Cork. Both teams included an engineer and a pilot.
AAIU spokesman Jurgen Whyte said will examine air traffic control tapes, radar information, weather reports and the condition and operation of the aircraft to establish the cause of the crash. He said the plane had crashed, inverted and caught fire about 1,000ft down the runway. He said investigators would be looking for separate data and voice recorders among the wreckage of the aircraft. These were built to withstand aircraft fires which were known to reach 1,000 degrees.
Information supplied by the voice and data recorders would provide details of cloud cover and visibility as well as mechanical data which would indicate if there was a problem with the aircraft.
Considerable attention will be paid to visibility at the time as witnesses said there was dense fog surrounding the runway. Pilot error and the advice from air traffic control will also be considered, particularly due to the number of attempts at landing.
Investigators yesterday said the aircraft – a Fairchild Metroliner – was not a modern aircraft but could fly for 30 years if it was properly certified and maintained.
Fr Mick Murphy, parish priest in Ballyphehane, which includes Cork airport, said he had been asked to give the victims of the crash the last rites in a tent beside the runway. He described the incident as an awful tragedy which had taken him and the local community by surprise.
The crash was the third time Cork has been involved in fatal air crashes. In March 1968 an Aer Lingus Vickers Viscount took off from Cork bound for London. The aircraft, the St Phelim, later plunged into the sea off the Tuskar Rock lighthouse killing all 57 passengers and four crew on board. In June 1985, an Air India 747 en route from Canada to New Delhi blew up over the Atlantic as a result of a bomb by Sikh extremists. A total of 329 people died in that incident with bodies being brought ashore in Cork.
Cork airport has reopened tonight following its closure yesterday morning. Normal service is expected to resume at the airport tomorrow. For flight inquiries, contact the airport at 021 431 3131.