family is mourning the death of her sons and their wives who died while
they were all flying to Ireland to surprise their niece at her
confirmation party.
Mrs Noeleen Burke, who is in her 80s, lost her
husband three years ago and with the loss of her sons and
daughters-in-law recently, she has only one remaining daughter.
Kevin, 56, Donald, 55, and Barry 51 together with their wives were killed when their helicopter crashed in Snowdonia on Wednesday.
The ill-fated Twin Squirrel red helicopter left the Burke’s Milton
Keynes mansion heading to Dublin. The helicopter lost contact as it
passed over North Wales, which was battered by gale force winds, heavy
rain and had visibility of less than 10 metres in places because of low
cloud. It crashed into the Rhinog Fawr mountains in Snowdonia near the
giant Trawsfynydd lake reservoir on Wednesday afternoon.
The
helicopter was being flown by Kevin who is said to be an experienced
helicopter pilot and would have done anything to protect his family. All
five passengers on board died, leaving six of the victims’ children
without parents. The bodies of the victims are still at the crash site
as at today after bad weather first hampered the hunt for the wreckage
and is now preventing their remains being removed from the mountains.
A
spokesman for the family said last night:
“Six children have lost their
parents in this tragedy. At this stage the family wants to be left
alone to be able to deal with their grief over this terrible loss and
concentrate upon looking after the children.”
A family friend
spoke to the Irish Sun, saying that the family began to receive words
that same afternoon that the plane had disappeared but they kept calm
and hoped for the best. Sadly, that was not to be.
“The family
were flying in to attend a confirmation for a niece and wanted to
surprise her on the big day. They were due to arrive in for a party that
evening,” the family friend said. “Then word started to filter through
that something was wrong during the afternoon, but the family made every
effort to keep their composure.”
Another told the Irish Herald:
“We were all a very close family. We’re absolutely devastated. They were
coming to Dublin for a family confirmation. Kevin was a very
experienced pilot. He never took chances. He was an excellent pilot and
he had a lot of flight hours and he never took risks. They only decided
to come when they checked the weather, which was supposedly okay, but it
doesn’t look like it was. We were all looking forward to seeing them.
We’re all devastated. They were lovely people and they were very family
orientated. We were all very close. Kevin was generous and loving. They
were all generous and loving people.”
A joint investigation led
by the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) is now underway and a
no-fly zone has been enforced. The helicopter is owned by Staske
Construction Ltd, which is run by Mr and Mrs Burke, and they rent out
the red aircraft and others they own to TV and film crews from a helipad
in the grounds of their Buckinghamshire farmhouse. Their business has
been running for 21 years. Kevin and his wife, Ruth, recently moved into
their large farmhouse with their teenage son Jamie and their daughter
jess, who is in her 20s.
They had spent two years
building the large house on the outskirts of Milton Keynes and moved in
there just before Christmas. Three helicopters were seen parked in the
grounds and seven cars were on the drive when newsmen visited the place
but there was no answer at the property. Neighbors spoke about them in
flowery terms and said though they were new they left an indelible mark.
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