Father, mother and son among four bodies in plane wreckage

A husband and wife and their teenage son were among four people killed when a light aircraft which had taken off in Gloucestershire crashed on a mountainside in Ireland.

The bodies of Sharif and Margaret Booz and their 14-year-old son Eamon, from Almondsbury, Bristol, and a friend of the teenager, were yesterday recovered from the Piper PA-28, which had been bound for Kilrush airfield in Co Kildare.

It was found near Corriebrock Mountain, Co Wicklow, at around 10am by mountain rescue personnel acting on information from a hill walker, after a major search operation. The nose and front part were embedded in soft peat and rescuers had to use cutting equipment to get in.

The single-engine plane left Gloucestershire airport on Saturday morning and was last sighted on radar at 12.30pm over the Wicklow mountains, the Irish Aviation Authority said.

The operator of Kilrush airfield, Ian Valentine, said Booz, a 43-year-old property developer, had been using the strip for the past six or seven years to visit relatives in the nearby town of Newbridge.

Paramedics and gardai were airlifted to the scene and Ireland's Air Accident Investigation Unit has begun an investigation.

Chief inspector of air accidents Jurgen Whyte said: "The aircraft has impacted heavily and deeply into peat ground."

Neighbours in Almondsbury paid tribute to the family, who have another son, describing them as "popular and friendly". Roy Rosser, 64, said they would regularly take part in street barbecues and often stop and chat with neighbours.

"They are a lovely family and this is a real tragedy," he said. "We've got a bit of a tradition where we have barbies at the end of the street and invite everyone.

"Sharif would always get involved and would bring along some meat and provide the gas canisters. He was a very enthusiastic flyer and was very experienced, which makes this all the more shocking."

Booz is believed to have co-owned the UK-registered plane.