LONDON — Mountain rescuers have found five bodies with the wreckage of a helicopter that disappeared on a flight from England to Ireland, British police said Thursday.
The privately-owned Twin Squirrel chopper failed to arrive in Dublin as scheduled after taking off Wednesday from Luton airport near London.
The British and Irish coast guards searched over the Irish Sea and the Snowdonia mountain range in north Wales.
North Wales Police Supt. Gareth Evans said wreckage and bodies were found Thursday in “very difficult and challenging terrain” in the mountains.
Police said Thursday that the operation to recover victims’ bodies might have to be suspended overnight “due to worsening weather conditions” and the difficult terrain.
Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch said it had sent a team of inspectors to the site.
Police said the victims are all members of one family from the Milton Keynes area of southern England. Police haven’t released their names.
