Galway plane wreckage removed for investigation

The wreckage of a small plane which crashed in Co Galway, causing the deaths of two people, has been removed for further examination, the Department of Transport said today.

Seven passengers who survived the crash on Thursday remain in University College Hospital Galway (UCHG). Three of those are in a critical condition, a Health Service Executive (HSE) spokeswoman said.

The plane was taken under Garda escort last night to a facility in Co Meath, where further tests will be conducted by Air Accident Investigators from the Department of Transport.

Three investigators spent yesterday examining the wreckage at the crash site in a field next to Aerfort na Minna, near Inverin, around 20 miles west of Galway City.

The small Cessna aircraft was making a seven-minute trip from Inis Mean to Indreabhan when it missed the runway .

It is believed it nose-dived as it approached land.

It is understood the airport, which serves the Aran Islands, has been reopened.

Gardaí named the dead men as 59-year-old Matthew Masterson, of Parkmore Drive, Terenure, Dublin, who was the pilot of the aircraft, and 57-year-old Paul Mc Namee, of Lake Road, Loughrea, Co Galway.