MASS FOR VICTIMS:VICTIMS OF the Cork Airport crash will be remembered at a Mass celebrated by the priest who administered the last rites on the runway.
Fr Michael Murphy, parish priest at the Church of the Assumption at Ballyphehane (which includes Cork Airport), said he did his best to administer prayers for those who had died inside a tent that had been erected by emergency services at the crash site.
“A friend of mine, a street sweeper, phoned to tell me [about the crash] so I got on my bike and went straight up there. I had just arrived at the airport when the ambulances started flying out past me and while I was relieved there were survivors, you wouldn’t know at that stage to what extent they were surviving,” he said.
Fr Murphy made his way to the tent on the runway to anoint those who had died.
“The scene was awful. I spent time in Lebanon with the Irish Army and we did encounter situations there but at least we were prepared, whereas at Cork Airport that morning we never anticipated we would be involved in such a tragedy,” he said.
He said he hoped a memorial plaque would be erected in memory of those who died in the crash, as well as those who died when an Aer Lingus plane crashed at Tuskar Rock en route from Cork to London in 1968.
All 61 passengers on board perished, some of whom were from Ballyphehane. “They were parishioners from here [Ballyphehane] accompanied by one of the priests of the parish, Fr Hegarty. They were going to visit Ballyphehane people who were working in England at the time and there were quite a few of them killed in it,” Fr Murphy said.
The Mass for those who died, their relatives, the survivors and members of the emergency services will be celebrated at noon at the Church of the Assumption in Ballyphehane tomorrow.