MH17 flight victim was relation of Westmeath TD's wife

It has been confirmed that one of the victims travelling on board the downed Malaysian flight bound for Kuala Lumpur was a cousin of TD Willie Penrose’s wife Anne.

The woman, who is understood to be in her fifties, is originally from Palmerston in Dublin, and had been living in Australia for the last 20 years with her husband and two children.

She was returning to Perth in Australia having spent a two week holiday here in Ireland visiting her mother and three sisters.

“The family are totally devastated,” said a source close to the family. “She was married with two grown up children who are attending college in Perth.

“She comes home twice a year to see her mother and three sisters and she was just after having a lovely two-week holiday with them here at home.

“She actually spoke to her mother just as she was boarding the plane.

“The family are completely shocked and traumatised. They are totally distraught.”

The Malaysia Airlines flight which was shot down over the Ukraine yesterday, Thursday July 17, was carrying 298 people from at least ten countries.