RESCUE WORKERS RECOVER BODIES FROM SNOWDONIA HELICOPTER CRASH
AIR accident investigators have said it is “not uncommon” for helicopters like the one which crashed in Snowdonia National Park this week to have “some form of electronic recording device”.
Five members of the same family died when the Twin Squirrel aircraft crashed in the Rhinog Mountains near Trawsfynydd on Wednesday while travelling from Luton to Dublin.
The victims were named by police as Kevin and Ruth Burke aged 56 and 49, Donald and Sharon Burke aged 55 and 48, and Barry Burke, 51. They are all from the greater Milton Keynes area. Rescue workers have now recovered their bodies.
An Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) spokesman said private helicopters of this type did not carry cockpit or flight data recording equipment found in commercial air- craft. But he added: “It is not uncommon for some helicopters like this one to have some form of electronic recording device.”
It is one of many aspects of the crash that the AAIB will be looking into as the aircraft’s wreckage is recovered to its base in Farnborough.
The recovery of the wreckage is expected to take until tomorrow, although bad weather could delay it further.
The area where the helicopter crashed is on a steep slope 2,300ft above sea level, between Harlech and Trawsfynydd.
North West Wales coroner Dewi Pritchard-Jones has opened an investigation into the death.
The Airbus-built helicopter was registered to Kevin and Ruth Burke, who are believed to have been directors of the Milton Keynes-based Staske Construction company. It is believed Kevin Burke was originally from Manchester and was a qualified pilot.
Chief Inspector Richard Green, of North Wales Police, has thanked the people involved in the search and recovery work, who included mountain rescue volunteers.
Paying tribute to the victims, he said: “Our thoughts remain with the extended family and their friends.
He added: “I would also like to thank the police officers and mountain rescue personnel, not just for their dedication and skill in verytrying conditions, but also the dignified and compassionate manner in which the whole operation was conducted.”