Learming Hub

1972

On Sunday, 18th June 1972, tragedy struck the Irish business community.

 

Twelve Irish Business Leaders – including former IMI Chairman and Council Member Michael Rigby – boarded a plane to Brussels to discuss the passing of the referendum allowing Ireland to join the EEC. Ninety seconds after take-off, the plane crashed outside the town of Staines.

 

“What was so eerie about it was it was the absolute silence; apart from the hissing from the aircraft and there wasn’t any sound of a human voice…”

 

Francis Castledine, a nurse who arrived on the scene.