Manx2 chairman: Crew of crashed plane was 'fully qualified'

Noel Hayes, the chairman of the airline Manx2, whose plane crashed at Cork Airport yesterday morning has said the two-man crew on board was fully qualified to operate the flight.

Six people, including the two pilots, were killed when the small turbo-prop crashed during its third attempt to land in heavy fog.

Cork Airport remains closed, but is expected to re-open to flights sometime after 8pm this evening.

The mother of the doomed flight's co-pilot, Ann Cantle, has said her son Andrew had only joined the airline a few weeks ago.

Efforts are continuing to remove the wrecked fuselage from the airfield.

Two survivors of the crash, Donal Walsh and Laurence Wilson, have thanked the emergency services on their discharge from hospital.