Updated 10.38pm 

THE BODIES OF a man and a seven-year-old boy have been recovered after a plane crash in Offaly.

Rescue teams recovered the bodies of the pilot and the young child just after 1opm. They have been transferred to the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore for post-mortem examinations tomorrow.

The pair were on board a light aircraft that crashed in a bog near Edenderry this afternoon.

Alerts were raised after the parachute club lost radio contact with the pilot, who is understood to be a UK national.

Gardaí and emergency services attended the scene of the crash near Clonbullogue Airfield after 3pm.

The plane had been carrying 16 parachutists and took off from Clonbullogue Airfield at 2.35 pm this afternoon.

Gardaí have said that all 16 made the jump from the plane but that witnesses saw the plane crash soon afterwards.

The crashed plane was later located about two kilometres from the airfield the bog land.

The Air Accident Investigation Unit has initiated an investigation.

With reporting by Sinéad O’Carroll