A LEADING Furness business family have been killed in a plane crash while on a safari holiday in Tanzania.

The founders of Colony Candles Alan Williams, his wife Sue and her sister Jill all died when their five-seater Cessna plane crashed in a remote area close to the Mahale National Park on Sunday.

The plane's Canadian pilot and a close family friend were also killed.

The Williams family founded Colony Candles at Lindal-in-Furness 25 years ago, building it up from a team with just five staff into Europe's leading candle manufacturer employing nearly 200 people.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority were on their way to the area to investigate the cause of the plane crash.

At least two bodies have been recovered from the crash site and Tanzanian police are helping in efforts to retrieve all the remains.

See Friday's Westmorland Gazette for the full story.