COAL king Ken Talbot's executive assistant Natasha Flason, who died with her billionaire boss in the Congolese air disaster, was about to receive a wedding proposal when the tragedy took her life.

Young, smart and beautiful, French-born Ms Flason, 26, had the world at her feet with an exciting job, international travel and an adoring partner in Brisbane lawyer Rene Bulle.

A friend said Mr Bulle was planning to surprise Ms Flason in Italy with an engagement ring when she returned from Africa.

Ms Flason's grief-stricken mother, Irene Peczerwoj, said she knew Mr Bulle was in Europe but had no idea he was about to propose.

"It is a big tragedy for us all," Ms Peczerwoj said yesterday at her Gold Coast home.

"It will be very difficult for Rene but time will eventually erase the sorrow and he will one day find someone else. For a mother, your child can never be replaced, not by anybody."

A former air hostess, Ms Peczerwoj revealed her daughter was worried about flying in West Africa because of the region's poor aviation record.

"She did not like this concept of flying in Cameroon and when I heard the plane she was on was not the plane of Ken Talbot, I was ready for the worst," she said.

"I don't understand how they could go inside such a plane. When small planes like this crash in the jungle, it's always a disaster."

Ms Flason and Mr Bulle worked together at accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers' Brisbane office before she was hired by Mr Talbot earlier this year.

She had ambitions to study at Harvard and to one day work as a diplomat. "She had so many plans," her mother said.