Father of Irish aid worker in Kosovo

The body of Ms Andrea Curry, the Irish aid worker who was killed in an air crash in Kosovo on Friday, is to be returned to Ireland tomorrow or on Wednesday.

Ms Curry (24), a civil engineer from Armagh, was among 24 victims of the World Food Programme flight, which crashed in dense fog. She was on her first trip overseas with the relief agency Goal.

Her father and uncle and other relatives of the dead were flown in military helicopters over the crash site in northern Kosovo yesterday. Afterwards they were addressed by the UN civil administrator in Kosovo, Dr Bernard Kouchner, and Gen. Klaus Reinhardt, commander of the international peacekeeping troops who found the wreckage.

The bodies of the 24 victims will be flown to Rome early today

for formal identification, UN officials said. The remains had been scheduled to return yesterday after being transported to Pristina, but the initial identification had taken longer than expected, they said.

A team of US forensic experts began investigations on Saturday as a first step in identifying the victims, a process hindered by the fact that the aircraft had almost disintegrated upon impact.

UN officials decided to transfer the remains to Rome, where medical facilities will make the final identification easier and allow the relatives to return home.

Ms Curry was embarking on a one-year contract as a volunteer with Goal, in which she was to help with the rebuilding of schools and homes in Peje and Pristina.

A graduate of Queen's University Belfast, she had worked previously in commercial operations in Kenya and Kazakhstan.