WA school teacher killed in MH17

A Catholic school teacher returning home to her husband and young children is one of the seven West Australians killed in the Malaysia Airlines plane tragedy.

Irish-born Edel Mahady was visiting her elderly mother and extended family in Ireland for two weeks before catching the doomed flight home, the Irish Independent reports.

The mother-of-two in her fifties emigrated to Australia more than two decades ago but still made regular trips back to Ireland.

The Irish Independent quoted an unnamed family source who said the family were "numb with shock and disbelief and grief".

"It's extremely traumatic for them, they are trying to come to terms with it."

"They can't believe it. There is a great bond between them in that family."

Her husband and two children did not travel to Ireland.

Mrs Mahady reportedly worked as a school administrator at the Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School in Perth.