THREE volunteers for an Oxfordshire charity died in the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash on Sunday, it has emerged.

Jayne Kamau, Bella Jaboma Achieng and Dr Grace Kariuki, were on flight ET302 when it crashed six minutes into its two-hour flight to the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

They were valued members of the team at World Eye Cancer Hope UK, an eye cancer charity based in Chalgrove, and supported children in Kenya who are going through cancer treatments.

ALSO READ: Mother of identical twins spotted daughter’s rare cancer from ‘glowing’ eye

Abby White, voluntary chief executive of the charity, said: “Jayne and Bella were our best hope to bringing sustainable child life programmes to Nairobi.

"There are very few doctors in oncology in Kenya and so losing Dr Kariuki is a massive loss. We made an amazing amount of progress with them and to lose all three of them together is heartbreaking.”

Oxford Mail:

The three volunteers were all Kenyan which Ms White said was a vital part of doing charity work in Kenya.

She said that the challenge with programmes that are currently run in Kenya is that they are staffed by visitors who are on gap years or only in the country for two to three months.

ALSO READ: Parents team take on OX5 Run for 'cancer fighters'

Ms Kamau, Ms Jaboma Achieng and Dr Grace Kariuki helped to establish relationships with the children as well as to support their parents.

They were able to make people aware that types of support are different depending on the age of the child as well as preparation for treatment support.

The charity now created has a special fund in Ms Kamau and and Dr Kariuki’s memory.

To donate, go to https://www.everydayhero.co.uk/event/childlifekenya/.