Northern Ireland's richest man, Baron Ballyedmond, reportedly died with three others in crash near Beccles
Haughey: Feared to have been among those killedNorthern Ireland's richest man, Edward Haughey, is feared to be among the four people killed in last night's helicopter crash.
The aircraft crashed on the border between Norfolk and Suffolk near Beccles at around 7.30pm.
Police confirmed four people were killed when the helicopter came down in dense fog.
One of those is reported to be Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond, who has a home nearby.
The identity of those on board has yet to be confirmed by the police.
Haughey is estimated to be worth around £500m and has been Chairman of Norbrook Laboratories and Holdings since 1980.
The firm employs hundreds of people in Northern Ireland.
He sat in the House of Lords initially as a member of the Ulster Unionist Party, before switching to the Conservative Party.
Haughey has donated money to the Conservative Party in the past.
The helicopter involved was on a private flight and was not a military aircraft.
It was believed it was a twin-engined Augusta Westland 139 and had just taken off heading for Northern Ireland.
Taxi driver Mark Murray, 22, from Beccles, said: “There is a large stately home nearby and you often see helicopters coming and going from there.
“When they have a game shoot the guests often all arrive in separate helicopters.
“We don’t know if that is linked, but that’s the only helicopter activity we see in this area.”
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has confirmed it will be sending a team to investigate the tragedy.
GoogleMaps
Beccles helicopter crash Two ambulance officers, three ambulances, two doctors and one rapid response car attended the scene.
It was thought that fog could have played a part in last night’s crash.
Helen Roberts, a forecaster at the Met Office, confirmed that large parts of East Anglia had been hit by mist last night.
She said: “There has certainly been some fog around south Norfolk, and the Norwich area has been in fog.
“There has been widespread mist around East Anglia and low visibility quite widely across East Anglia. Mist means low visibility, and it has been misty quite widely throughout the evening.”
Beccles Helicopter crash Roland Bronk, owner of The Swan House inn and restaurant in Beccles also said it was “very foggy” in the area.
The Augusta Westland 139 is the same model that crashed into the 51-storey St George Wharf tower block in Vauxhall, south west London in January last year, killing two.
The helicopter featured in the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony when a stuntman playing the Queen parachuting into the Olympic stadium in a James Bond-style film.
The site is 45 miles from the spot where four crew members died when a US military helicopter crashed in Norfolk on a training mission in a nature reserve in Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk.
In January, a Pave Hawk from RAF Lakenheath was taking part in a low-flying training exercise when it came down in a nature reserve in Cley-next-the-Sea in the county.
All four American crew members were killed in the crash. The aircraft was carrying munitions at the time of the crash and police subsequently cordoned off the area at they investigated the nature of the weaponry, which was later found to be bullets.
-mirror.uk
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