ABOUT 500 mourners gathered in Spain yesterday for the funeral mass of the pilot killed in last week’s Cork air crash.
Family and friends paid their last respects to Jordi Sola Lopez (31) at a service in his home town in Catalonia, northeast Spain.
His parents Toni Sola Vila and Rosa Lopez Coma comforted girlfriend Sarabel Ruiz at the front of the packed parish church.
Mr Sola Lopez, one of six people who died in last Thursday’s accident, had been cremated earlier in the week in Ireland before being flown to Spain by colleagues from Air Lada.
His ashes sat in a small wooden box, draped in a simple yellow and red ribbon, the colours of the Catalan flag, placed at the front of Our Lady of Mount Carmen church in Manresa, 40 miles from Barcelona.
After the Catholic mass a family friend read out a moving tribute in Catalan from Mr Sola Lopez’s parents and girlfriend, a psychologist and fellow ballroom dancer.
It said: “He lived intensely, devouring life. He loved and was loved. He will always be with us, living in our hearts.”
Many were in tears as they watched a slideshow of photographs of the deceased, as an only child and champion ballroom dancer, growing up, at family celebrations, flying planes and on holidays with his girlfriend.
British co-pilot Andrew Cantle (27) was also killed, as were passengers Brendan McAleese (39) from Tannaghmore in Co Antrim; Pat Cullinan (45), originally from Crannagh in Co Tyrone; Richard Noble (48) from Jordanstown in Belfast; and Michael Evans (51) from Belfast.