Memorial for plane crash doctors

Eithne Walls, 28, has been described as a "ray of sunshine"

A memorial service has been held at Trinity College in Dublin for the three Irish doctors killed in the Air France crash last week.

Eithne Walls, 28, from Ballygowan, County Down died along with her friends Aisling Butler, from Roscrea, County Tipperary, and Jane Deasy from Dublin.

The three women had graduated in medicine from Trinity in 2007.

On Sunday, a special Mass will be held in Dr Walls' home parish. A similar service has been held for Dr Butler.

The three young women were heading home from holiday on the plane which disappeared while travelling from Rio De Janeiro to Paris.

Forty-one bodies have now been discovered in the Atlantic Ocean and the process of identifying them is now under way.

Eithne was a ray of sunshine and brightened any room she stepped into Tribute left on website

Trinity said the memorial service in its chapel on Wednesday would be a private affair with only invited family, friends and colleagues of the families in attendance.

Dr Walls, who worked in the Dublin Eye and Ear Hospital, was also a talented Irish dancer. She had spent a year with Riverdance on Broadway, New York, before going on to Trinity.

Tributes have been paid to her on various websites.

A member of staff at the hospital where she worked said Dr Walls was a "wonderful caring doctor with a winning smile and an infectious giggle".

A friend wrote: "Eithne was a ray of sunshine and brightened any room she stepped into. She always looked on the bright side of life and brought the best out in people."

Another said she "left a impecable impression on the world".

The plane she was travelling on vanished over the Atlantic after flying into turbulence en route from Brazil to Paris.

It had 216 passengers and 12 crew on board, including three pilots. The passengers included one infant, seven children, 82 women and 126 men.