Service recalls lives lost in Cork Airport tragedy

SURVIVORS of the Cork Airport plane crash looked on yesterday as members of the city’s emergency services lit candles in memory of those who died in the tragedy.

Six people, including the two pilots, died and six survived when the Manx2 commuter flight from Belfast to Cork crashed on its third attempt to land in thick fog at Cork Airport just before 10am on February 10.

Church of Ireland Bishop Paul Colton told almost 400 people who attended a simple ecumenical prayer service at Cork’s North Cathedral yesterday that many people have moved on since that awful day.

“But those closest to the tragedy cannot move on so readily,” he said. “It is a day of sorrow and pain as well as thanksgiving. It is a day of truly mixed emotions.”

Survivor Mark Dickens, whose right arm is still in a sling, travelled by car and ferry from Kent with his wife, Tara, to attend.

“I really wanted to be here to say thank you to the emergency crews, and the hospital staff who looked after me,” he said. “I wanted to pay our respects to those that didn’t make it and see some of those injured that we met in hospital.

“It wasn’t a difficult decision to come — just a difficult journey to get here. I didn’t really want to fly, so we had a laborious car and ferry journey.”

The couple sat close to other survivors, including graduate Donal Walsh, 22, from Waterford, who was accompanied by his father, John; Peter Cowley, from Glanmire in Co Cork, who was wearing a neck-brace; Laurence Wilson, 51, from Glenoe, Co Antrim, and Heather Elliot, who is originally from Kinsale, Co Cork, and who now lives in Belfast.

Brendan Mallon from Bangor, Co Down, could not attend.

Mr Wilson, who travelled to Cork by train, said he felt the service had given the survivors hope, and relatives of the deceased a ceremony to remember.

“I feel like one of the luckiest guys in Northern Ireland. It really brings it home when you see six lighting candles, that it could have been seven, or 12,” he said.

Donal Walsh’s father said his family feels extremely lucky that his son survived not just the plane crash, but the fire afterwards. “When we got his clothes back they were soaked in kerosene,” he said. “We are so thankful to the rescue services, who got there so fast.”

The parents of young co-pilot Andrew John Cantle, John and Ann, attended, as did Allison Noble, widow of Richard Noble, and Anne Marie McAleese, the pregnant widow of Brendan McAleese.

They wept silently as representatives of the city and county fire and ambulance services, gardaí, airport officials and nursing leaders lit six candles for the victims. They were Mr Cantle, 27, the co-pilot, from Sunderland, who was planning to marry his sweetheart Beth; Mr Noble, 49, a businessman originally from Yorkshire; Mr McAleese, 39, a businessman from Co Tyrone; Pat Cullinan, 45, a partner in leading accountancy firm KPMG in Belfast; Captain Michael Evans, 51, deputy harbour master in Belfast; and the pilot Jordi Lopez.

Cork Airport chaplain Fr Michael Murphy said there are no words to console those who lost loved ones.

“When your cross is too heavy for you, even if you do not believe in God, I pray that God will carry your cross with you,” he said. He also read a special message in Spanish for the parents of Mr Lopez.

The service was led by Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr John Buckley, and Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Paul Colton.

The President was represented by her Aide de Camp, Captain Murt Larkin, and the Taoiseach was represented by his Aide de Camp, Commandant Micheál Treacy.

The British Ambassador was represented by Laura Winston, and the Spanish Ambassador was represented by Cathy Goode.

Many of the fire fighters and gardaí who attended the crash scene, and the doctors and nurses who treated casualties at the airfield, and afterwards at Cork University Hospital (CUH), were among the congregation.

The service was also attended by Lord Mayor Cllr Michael Ahern, and Mayor of Cork County, Cllr Kevin Murphy, as well as several city councillors and Oireachtas members, including Junior Minister Kathleen Lynch, and Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin.

Also among the congregation were the chief executive of the Dublin Airport Authority, Declan Collier, the chairman of the Cork Airport Authority (CAA), Gerry Walsh, CAA chief executive Pat Keohane, and the general manager of Cork University Hospital, Tony McNamara.

The survivors and families of the victims mingled for several minutes after the service — the survivors swapping incredible stories of survival and recovery: the victims’ relatives sharing their memories.

Mr Cantle’s mother, Ann, was overcome with emotion as she spoke of her son’s love of flying.

Mr Wilson also discovered he was sitting very close to Mr Walsh towards the rear of the aircraft, and Mr Walsh met one of the airport fire service members who helped him from the wreckage.

The Air Accident Investigation Unit’s (AAIU) preliminary report into the crash, which was published on Wednesday, found no failures of the aircraft systems or engines.

It confirmed that the right wingtip clipped the runway and that the aircraft landed on its roof.

The factors leading to the catastrophic loss of control of the aircraft are still being examined. The AAIU probe is now focusing on the crew’s experience and training, and on all the operational and regulatory oversight of the company’s linked to the flight.