TWO OF the survivors of the Cork Airport plane crash attended the funeral of Brendan McAleese in the country church of St MacNissi’s in Tannaghmore near Ballymena in Co Antrim yesterday.
Laurence Wilson (51), from Co Antrim, and Donal Walsh (22), from Waterford, joined hundreds of mourners for the funeral of the 39-year-old businessman who ran a successful laundry company near Cookstown, Co Tyrone.
Also among the large attendance were President Mary McAleese and her husband Martin, first cousin of the late Mr McAleese, who was among the six people killed in last Thursday’s Manx2 airlines crash.
Neighbours of Mr McAleese turned out in strength yesterday to show solidarity with his family. A marquee was erected near the church to help cope with the large numbers attending while local stewards supported by a discreet police presence ensured that there was parking for all the mourners and that traffic could continue to flow along the country roads.
Mr Wilson, from Gleno near Larne, and Mr Walsh, who survived the crash with minor injuries, stood for a time with family and mourners outside the church after the Mass. Among the politicians who attended were Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and local SDLP Assembly member Thomas Burns.
The celebrants for the funeral Mass included the Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Noel Treanor. The chief celebrant, Canon Malachy Murphy, said Mr McAleese’s sudden and tragic death had “cast a cloud” over this small, rural, close-knit community.
“Our first reaction was one of disbelief. We felt numb. Why should this happen to such a good man and such a nice family? Our thoughts and prayers go out to those whose hearts are broken,” he said.
Canon Murphy told the congregation of how Mr McAleese and his wife Anne Marie went to Mass each Sunday in St MacNissi’s Church and how they were passing on the faith to their children, Ava and Erin. “Brendan was first and foremost a family man. He adored Anne Marie, Ava and Erin. All his energies were geared to providing for them.”
He described Mr McAleese as warm, popular, honest and generous. “He looked out for others. There wasn’t a selfish bone in his body,” he said. “He was the heart and soul of any gathering he was in. Where Brendan was, there was plenty of fun and banter.”
Canon Murphy said the family could be consoled that he was at peace and that they “would have many wonderful memories of him”.
Crash survivor Laurence Wilson offered his sympathy to the families of the bereaved, saying: “I am just so, so sorry. If I could maybe swap myself for some of them I would have done it – but I can’t. My thoughts and prayers are with them.”
Mr Wilson said he would not have survived the Manx2 air crash but for the “tremendous” speed and efficiency of the rescue services at Cork Airport.
He said it was something of a “lottery” that he was able to walk away from the crash as people in seats in front of him and behind died in the crash.
Mr Wilson told the BBC that before the crash passengers were informed that the pilot Jordi Sola Lopez, who was also killed in the crash, would land when the fog cleared. “But whenever we came down it was quite obvious the fog hadn’t cleared – the plane was just coming in, and that was it; it was just total darkness, I was covered in mud,” he said.
He said he was trapped but that the emergency services were rapidly on the scene putting out the fire. “The speed that they got in and the efficiency of them was tremendous. It was as if it was being rehearsed, it was that good. I just can’t say how well-organised that was done.”
