Four bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of a British-registered light aircraft which crashed in the Wicklow mountains, gardaí have confirmed.
The bodies from the Piper PA 28 plane have been taken to Naas General Hospital. The dead are believed to be a couple, their teenage son and his friend.
The aircraft left Gloucester in England shortly before 10am yesterday for Kilrush airfield.
But the last radar sighting was at 12.30pm over the Wicklow mountains, about 20 miles out of Kilrush, according to the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).
A spokesman for the Dublin Coastguard confirmed a sighting of wreckage shortly before 10am. The wreckage was located in dense wooded area known as Corrie Barracks and Church Mount, just south of Hollywood village.
It is inaccessible by road.
Medical personnel and gardaí were on the scene shortly after the wreckage was sighted.
Two teams from the Department of Transport's Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) were also flown to the area by Air Corps helicopter and have commenced their investigation.
Earlier chief inspector of air accidents Jurgen Whyte told The Irish Times: "We were aware the aircraft was missing but obviously we could not travel to the scene until it was confirmed wreckage has been found.
"The wreckage was located this morning by a coastguard helicopter and the gardai secured the site," he said.
"It has penetrated deeply into bogland on the mountain," he said.
Operator of Kilrush airfield, Ian Valentine, said the pilot of the British aircraft has been using the strip for the last six or seven years to visit relatives in nearby Newbridge.
Mr Valentine said he was an experienced pilot, aged in his mid 40s.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said yesterday the alarm was raised at around 7pm by a relative of one of those on board. Dublin Air Traffic Control monitored the aircraft before passing it over to Kilrush at 12.17pm, the IAA said.
But Mr Valentine said he was not aware the plane was due to land at the strip until a male relative of the pilot contacted him at around 6pm last night from Gloucester.
The airfield chief said he had received a text from the pilot earlier this week to say he was expected to come at the weekend.
But Mr Valentine said he would normally receive a call from the pilot the morning he was due to arrive, yet that did not happen yesterday.
A search got underway at about 7.30am coordinated by gardai at Bray.
The Dublin coastguard helicopter and mountain rescue teams from Dublin and Wicklow supported the search operation.
Mountain rescue teams including the Glen of Imaal team, Dublin/Wicklow, the South-Eastern Mountain Rescue Association, Mournes Mountain Rescue Team and the Search and Rescue Dogs Association (Sarda) took part in the operation.
Additional reporting: PA