Katie-Jo Davies, Nikkita Marie Walters, Hylton Price and Andrew Marsh

Police name teenage cousins killed in mid-air plane crash

Families speak of anguish at loss of 'much loved' girls
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 This article is over 9 years old
Two teenage air cadets killed in a mid-air plane crash were named by police today as cousins Nikkita Marie Walters and Katie-Jo Davies.
The girls, aged 13 and 14 and from Gilfach Goch in the Rhondda area of south Wales, were on a half-hour "flight experience" with RAF service personnel when the two light propeller planes collided above sand dunes.
The instructors, who also died, were named as Hylton Price, 63, from Bridgend, and 24-year-old Andrew Marsh, from the Vale of Glamorgan.
The families of Nikkita and Katie-Jo spoke of their anguish at the deaths of the girls, who were Air Training Corps cadets. "Words cannot describe how devastated we are by the loss of our girls," they said in a statement. "Nikkita and Katie-Jo were both much loved and will be so sorely missed. We are all grieving and would appeal for privacy at this time to come to terms with our loss."
Witnesses reported that the wings of the two aircraft touched shortly after they took off from RAF St Athan, sending them both crashing into dunes and rough ground near Porthcawl.
Rina Callingham was pegging out washing in her garden when she saw the crash. She said she was surprised at how close the two planes were to each other.
"I thought to myself that I didn't realise they flew so close together. I watched them for a few minutes and then the second one just hit him. I just couldn't believe it. At first there wasn't an explosion straightaway, but then there was. They just went down."
Despite reports one person jumped out of a plane before it hit the ground at Kenfig nature reserve, police found four bodies in the wreckage, which was strewn over a large area.
Ninety firefighters and scores of other emergency services officers went to the scene at 11am yesterday. When they arrived, one of the planes was on fire.
South Wales assistant chief constable Colette Paul said today she had heard rumours that people had stolen parts of the plane debris.
"I think that would be disgraceful if that was the situation," she said. "I would arrest those individuals … I've certainly heard rumours but nothing is confirmed."
The force is appealing for anyone who finds sections of the aircraft to contact police immediately. The bodies have yet to be recovered.
Group Captain Andy Naismith said: "Four members of the RAF family have tragically lost their lives."
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch, South Wales police and the Ministry of Defence are investigating the incident.
Rhondda Cynon Taff council leader Russell Roberts, a governor at Tonyrefail comprehensive school, where the girls were pupils, told the South Wales Echo: "We are devastated and in shock. Our sympathies are with the girls' families at this tragic time."
The newspaper reported that many friends of the girls were told of their deaths in assembly today.
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