An eyewitness has spoken of how he saw the plane at the centre of yesterday's fatal light aircraft crash in Co Wexford, "nosediving and swirling" moments before it hit the ground.
The two victims have been named locally as 61-year-old Peter Tawse from Old Ross, Co Wexford and 58-year-old John Finnan from Naas, Co Kildare.
They were fatally injured when the two-seater aircraft they were in got into difficulty and crashed close to the village of Duncormick in south Wexford shortly before 5.45pm last evening.
Tributes have been paid to the two men who were both members of Wexford Flying Club and were understood to have been experienced pilots.
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They took off from the Irish Light Aircraft Society’s airfield in Ardinagh near Taghmon in Wexford, but are believed to have got into difficulty shortly afterwards.
Local farmer Michael Doran told RTÉ News that he had just finished milking his cows nearby when he saw the aircraft circling overhead, for up to 20 minutes.
"When I walked out of the milking parlour to the yard, I just heard a bit of an explosion," he said.
"I looked up in the sky and unfortunately could see that the plane was actually nosediving and swirling at the same time, with debris falling around the place.
"I just rang the emergency services straightaway and got in the car to see if we could offer assistance to the people."
Emergency services, including gardaí, fire brigade, and Coast Guard personnel were at the scene shortly afterwards and the Coast Guard R117 helicopter also spent some time in the area as darkness fell.
Four inspectors from the Air Accident Investigation Unit carried out an initial assessment of the location last night following their arrival after 9pm and the men's bodies were removed from the scene at about 11pm.
The inspectors returned to the scene this morning and have been going through the process of identifying and recovering wreckage from the place, which is believed to be spread across several fields over an area of up to 10 acres.
Mr Doran said that the whole area has been traumatised by the tragedy.
"People are just in shock and saddened and we offer our condolences to the families involved," he said.
Peter Tawse was a former manager of Waterford Regional Airport and was a flying instructor for many years, with the Wexford Flying Club based at the airfield near Taghmon.
Earlier, the Chief Inspector of the AAIU said investigators hoped to speak to eyewitnesses of the crash.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Jurgen White said that while it was very early stages in the investigation, there was a clear indication that something was happening to the aircraft before it crashed.
He said the AAIU received an initial alert just after 6pm yesterday evening, and added he believed that the aircraft was being used for a training flight.
Local independent councillor Ger Carthy, who is also a member of the emergency services, was at the scene of the crash last night and offered his condolences to the relatives of the deceased.
He said that the accident was a "tragedy of unspeakable proportions" and thanked the emergency services for "their prompt response to this difficult task".
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke, Mr Carthy added that something catastrophic must have happened mid flight yesterday evening to cause the crash of the light plane.
He said that Mr Tawse was an experienced pilot and instructor.
He said he did not know Mr Tawse personally but knew his extended family.
"He has aviation in his blood. He's been an instructor since 1982," Mr Carthy said, adding: "He's brought many, many people flying and instructing".
"You know they're trained to cut out engines mid flight and re-engage but something catastrophic must have happened yesterday evening for this tragedy to happen."
