Bath’s Travel Stephen Bath narrowly avoided a helicopter crash in Majorca which killed two of his friends because he stayed at home to attend a party.
Dorset businessmen Mark Blaver-Mann and Alistair Evan, both 53, were flying in a Hughes 500 chopper on Saturday morning when the aircraft burst into flames.
The helicopter had been in a hangar at Bournemouth International Airport before being flown to Majorca in the last month.
Stephen Bath, joint managing director of Bath Travel had been with his friends last week and had turned down an invitation to join them due to a 60th birthday party.
He said: “I am totally shocked. When I heard about the crash and the type of helicopter it was, I feared it might be them.”
Mr Bath, who holds a fixed wing private pilot's licence, said: 'There's no indication of the cause yet, it's clearly too early to say.
“But Mark was a qualified pilot on that type of aircraft and the weather conditions were perfect. My initial reaction is that it may have been a fault with the helicopter.”
By Diane Evans
