TRAGIC: Bake Off star’s ex brother-in-law killed in plane crash in Spain

ONE of the two people killed in a plane crash in the Basque Country on Tuesday has been identified as Simon Moore, the former brother-in-law of Great British Bake Off star, Paul Hollywood.

The 62 year-old from Westgate-on-Sea was the brother of Paul’s ex-wife Alex, 54, who only days ago spoke about her ‘traumatic break-up’ from the presenter.

A spokesperson for Alex told Mirror Online that ‘the Moore’s family respectfully ask for privacy as this difficult time’.

Simon, father-of-two, was co-piloting a light plane with another British man, who has not been named, when the fatal incident occurred at around 2pm in the province of Gipuzkoa.

The aircraft had taken off from the Portugese town Cascais earlier in the day.

According to reports, the UK-registered Piper PA-28 Cherokee was travelling towards Hondarribia airport, close to the Spanish-French border, when it crashed on the 1,078 meter Mount Ernio, which was covered in fog at the time.

A rescue search was launched afternoon locals heard an explosion and contacted the regional police.

Ground teams found the first body at the burned out wreckage at 3.45pm on Wednesday.

The second body was found the following morning around 10.30am, after the search was suspended the previous evening due to a lack of light.

According to the emergency technician, the rescue operation was complex due to the physical geography of the mountain.  He said the plane was in an unstable area.

A Foreign Commonwealth Office spokesperson said further information is being sought from the Spanish authorities and the office ‘will do all it can to assist any British people who need help’.

In the last 15 years, there have been nine recorded deaths following plane crashes in the Basque Country.