GARDAI SAY THAT the victims of this morning’s Cork airport plane crash were all adults.

Garda Superintendent Mick Finn told a press conference at Cork Airport this lunchtime that the gardai would not be revealing the names of the dead until their families had all been informed and formal identification of the bodies had taken place.

Asked if the ten passengers were all from one company on the Manx2 flight from Belfast, Supt Finn said that he would not be confirming that until the identities of each of the victims was released. He also would not confirm if the two crew members on board were among the casualties.

The investigation of the accident is under the remit of the Air Accident Investigation Unit and not the gardai. However, Supt Finn said that it was his belief that the fire had not spread into the cabin or the cockpit of the plane. He said:

As far as I could see, one of the engines caught fire. The airport fire staff had it extinguished within a matter of minutes.

He also said the main number of the fatalities were “to the fore of the plane”.