Local community ‘in disarray’ after helicopter tragedy

The rector who baptised the youngest child of Ruth and Kevin Burke, killed in a helicopter crash while en route to Ireland this week, has said the community in England where they lived is “in disarray”.

Rev Hugh Symes-Thompson, who is based in Cranfield near Milton Keynes, from where the Twin Squirrel helicopter left on Wednesday destined for Dublin, said it was too early for funeral arrangements for a couple he said were enormously popular in the local community.

His words came as specialist teams were hampered by the weather as they sought to recover the bodies of five family members who died when the helicopter crashed in Snowdonia.