A 26-year-old Irish man is among nine people who have been killed in a plane crash in New Zealand.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is providing consular assistance to the family of Patrick Byrne from Co Wexford.
Mr Byrne, an electrician from the Brideswell area just outside Gorey, had been in New Zealand on a working visa.
The accident happened at Fox Glacier Airport on the west coast of the country's South Island.
The fixed-wing plane crashed at about 1.30pm in the afternoon local time.
Those who died also included the pilot, four local men and tourists from Australia, England and Germany.
'All nine people on board were killed,' a police spokesman told AFP news agency.
Initial details of the tragedy are sketchy because of the remoteness of the area, however, the police spokesman said he understood the plane burst into flames after it crashed.
Television New Zealand reported the aircraft, which it said belonged to a skydiving company, burst into flames soon after take-off.
The only skydiving company in the area, Skydive New Zealand, would not comment on the tragedy.
However, a message on the company's answer phone said: 'Unfortunately, we will not be skydiving for the rest of the day.'
Westland District mayor Maureen Pugh told the television channel the tourists were going up with instructors to do a tandem skydive in perfect weather conditions.
'It's a well-established company down here and has a huge reputation,' she said
'Nobody is even trying to guess what went wrong but it had tragic consequences. We're just so devastated.'
It is understood the repatriation of Mr Byrne's body is being organised by the Irish embassy in Australia, which is liaising with the Irish consulate in New Zealand.
He is survived by his mother and father, his brothers Mark and David and his sister Laura.
