Warrington man died in Nepal plane crash (From Warrington Guardian)

Warrington man died in Nepal plane crash

12:46pm Friday 28th September 2012 in News

A WARRINGTON man has died in a plane crash in Nepal.

Timothy Oakes, aged 57, and from Winwick was one of seven British people killed in the crash.

On Friday afternoon his wife Angie Gaunt paid tribute to him.

She said: "I believe my husband died this morning and the Home Office have confirmed that because he was due to be on that aeroplane this morning.

"Tim was a mountaineer. He lived life to the full and died doing something he always wanted to do. It should never deter people from living out their dreams.

"He was a mountaineer and he always wanted to go to Everest base camp, not climb it, to go to the base camp, and that's what he was doing.

"He was going because he always wanted to see Everest. It was the trip of a lifetime, he had always wanted to do it."

The Sita Air plane came down minutes after take-off from Kathmandu and 19 people in total died in the crash.

Mr Oakes had worked in the education department at Lancashire County Council and this afternoon they paid tribute to him.

Paul Dyson-Knight, Lancashire County Council's senior secondary school and post-16 senior adviser and team leader, said: "Tim was a highly respected colleague who had a successful career in education.

"He joined the advisory service in Lancashire in 2008 and has made a tremendous contribution to supporting secondary schools across Lancashire, always dedicated to helping schools to make a positive difference for their students.

"His skills in assisting school leaders to build on their strengths is widely recognised by a great many headteachers and senior staff, and he will be very sadly missed by us all. Our thoughts are with his family at this very sad time."

Ashley Toft, managing director of Explore Worldwide, the tour company of the victims, said: “We are devastated by this news. Our thoughts are very much with the families of those affected, both in the UK and in Nepal.

"The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said the families of the victims have all been informed.

"The weather was good. The plane was departing for Lukla and our passengers were heading for Everest Base Camp at the start of their trek.

"We have no more information at present."