The mother of an Irishman who was killed in a plane crash in Ethiopia last March has said her son, Micheál Ryan, is coming home as a "UN hero" because of "all the lives he has saved."

Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Today with Sean O’Rourke show from Frankfurt airport where she was en route to Ireland from Addis Ababa with his remains, she said he was coming home as “a UN hero” because of “all the lives he has saved.”