AN IRISHMAN in New Zealand on a working visa was among nine people killed in a plane crash overnight.

The fixed-wing aircraft crashed on landing at Fox Glacier Airport on the west coast of the South Island at 1:15pm local time (2:15am in the morning, Irish time), killing all nine on board, including the pilot, four locals and four tourists.

The Irishman on board has been named locally as 26-year-old Patrick Byrne, from Gorey in Co Wexford.

RTÉ reports that the Department of Foreign Affairs is providing consular assistance.

It is understood that the skydiving plane burst into flames as it landed, though only small details have emerged from the crash because it took place in a remote area on the mountainous west coast of the country’s larger island.

An eye-witness – a local fire brigade officer, whose home happened to be just fifty yards from the site of the crash – told the New Zealand Press Association that he didn’t see any sign of smoke before the plane impacted on the ground.

“I ran straight out there and did a quick 360 around the whole thing, by that time it was in flames.” he said.

“I thought that maybe if someone had been thrown clear on impact or if they’d tried to jump out in the air then there might have been something I could have done, but looking around the whole area there was no sign of life.”

The other four tourists included an 18-year-old man from Australia, a 24-year-old Englishman and a 23-year-old German woman. The pilot and four Kiwis killed were all from the Fox FGlacier area.