PHOTO. Here is a picture and video of Riverdance star, Dr. Eithne Walls (wrongly spelled Wallis), dead on Air France plane flight 447.

Eithne Walls, 28, was from Ballygowan, both an Irish dancer with Riverdance and also a doctor employed at the Dublin Eye and Ear Hospital.

Her family has just released the following statement:

It is with the heaviest and with the saddest of hearts that the Walls family confirm the loss of their dearest daughter and sister Eithne.

Eithne was an extraordinary person who brought light into the lives of everyone she touched. She was beautiful in every way especially of spirit.

She had a passion for life that permeated, enlivened and enriched those around her.

We feel privileged to have shared her too short life and the countless memories of her will stay with us forever.

She had many hopes for her life and was looking forward to the exciting journey to fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming an eye surgeon.

At university she made many lifelong friends with who she shared the trials and tribulations of university life and on her last holiday we know she was delighted to have be reunited with so many of them.

‘Inconsolable loss’

Her friends will, we hope, remember their time together with fondness and joy despite its tragic end.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of her dearest friends Jane and Aisling who are suffering the same inconsolable loss.

Many people have known Eithne through Irish dancing, a passion she had continued throughout her studies and into her professional life.

We have been overwhelmed by the messages of support from so many family and friends from our community and throughout the world.

Your thoughts and prayers give us comfort at this most devastating of times.

Eithne we will miss your easy smile. We will miss your loving embrace. We will miss your happy hello and we will miss your dancing feet. We will miss your silliness, your wit and your hugs.

We will always hold you in our hearts and you are never truly gone.

Watch below breaking video of Walls from the BBC.