THREE MEMBERS of a family, who died when the light aircraft in which they were travelling crashed on Saturday, are to be remembered at a service of thanksgiving in Naas, Co Kildare this evening.
The lives of Sharif Booz, his wife Margaret O'Kennedy Booz, both in their 50s, and their 14-year-old son, Aymon, will be recalled at the service at the Church of the Irish Martyrs in Ballycane at 5.30pm.
Aymon's friend, Charles Froud (14), also died when the light aircraft crashed in the Wicklow mountains at about lunchtime on Saturday. They were all from Lower Almondsbury in Bristol, England. They were due to return to England tomorrow.
A remaining son, Sammi Booz (20), is an architecture student at Nottingham University.
Details of the funeral and burial service, which will take place in Lower Almondsbury, are yet to be finalised.
Mr Booz, an Egyptian-born property developer, was an experienced pilot and he and his family were travelling to visit relatives in Newbridge during the October half-term school break when the plane crashed.
His private aircraft took off from Gloucester airport in poor weather conditions shortly before 10am on Saturday for Kilrush airfield, Co Kildare. Mr Booz flew there at least twice a year to visit a second home in Newbridge.
The last radar sighting of the single-engine aircraft was at 12.30pm when it was flying over the Wicklow mountains. It was about 20 miles out from Kilrush at that point, the Irish Aviation Authority said.
The alarm was raised on Saturday evening when a relative of Mr Booz contacted the airfield when the aircraft had failed to arrive.
The wreckage of the aircraft was removed from the Wicklow mountains on Sunday by an Air Corps helicopter in an operation organised by the Department of Transport's Air Accident Investigation Unit. It was taken to Gormanston, Co Meath, where an investigation into the cause of the crash is continuing.
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