Crowds weep for teenager, 16, killed in horror Irish car crash alongside her best friend,
Crowds of mourners wept as they gathered to say their final farewells to a teenage girl who was killed in a horrific crash in Ireland alongside her best friend on their way to a prom.
Dlava Mohamed, 16, of Clones, Co Monaghan, died alongside 17-year-old Kiea McCann after their car left the N54 and crashed into a tree on the side of the road, just outside Clones.
Dlava’s sister Auin and Oisín Clerkin, both 18, also sustained serious injuries in the crash, with the car’s driver, 60-year-old Anthony McGinn, still in intensive care.
Today, members of the community gathered in the town square as the hearse brought the body of Dlava, who had just completed her summer exams, to her family home this evening.
The white coffin was then carried back out of the family home ahead of a funeral service in Dublin tomorrow.
Women stood at the door of the family home and sang a lament as those gathered along the town’s streets stood in silence.
The coffin carrying the remains of Dlava Mohamed is carried out of the family home in Clones, Co. Monaghan
The families of Kiea McCann (left) and her friend Dlava Mohamed (right) wept as hundreds of residents in Clones, Co Monaghan, paid tribute to the schoolgirls
Women stood at the door of the family home and sang a lament as those gathered along the town’s streets stood in silence
The hearse carrying the remains of Dlava Mohamed arrives at the family homebound for her funeral in Dublin
Crowds gathered in Clones to pay their respects as Dlava’s hearse was driven down the street
People formed a guard of honour as they await the hearse carrying the remains of Dlava Mohamed
Mourners were seen to comfort each other as Dlava’s coffin was brought out of the vehicle
The white coffin was brought to Dlava’s family home in Clones, Co Monaghan, as a large crowd formed outside
There was a similar show of support and grief in the town late last night for Kiea McCann, 17, who also died after the car they had been travelling in veered off the road and hit a tree.
As the body of Kiea was brought home to Clones, the hearse paused for a moment outside Dlava’s family home.
A funeral mass for Kiea will be held at Sacred Heart Chapel in Clones at 2pm on Thursday.
She will later be laid to rest in Mount St Oliver’s Cemetery in the town.
A funeral will be held for Dlava at Clonskeagh Mosque in Dublin on Thursday afternoon, and she will be laid to rest later in the day at Newcastle Muslim Cemetery in Dublin.
The principal of the teenagers’ secondary school said the girls had been ‘best friends’ since Dlava arrived in Clones as part of a resettlement programme for Syrians.
‘Dlava was always smiling, she was gorgeous, so loyal and bubbly, and she was always very happy,’ Largy College principal Sharon Magennis told RTE Radio.
‘She really had a goodness and she was just full of energy.’
Ms Magennis said Kiea had completed the Leaving Certificate Applied programme and was ‘pleasant and courteous’.
‘She had a great love of children and she had hoped to go on to study childcare at third level, and now that is a dream that will just not be realised.
‘We’re just heartbroken at this time. Words can’t describe how our school, our community of Clones is feeling at this time.’
Friends and family members acted as pallbearers as they carefully lifted the coffin out of the vehicle
Dozens of locals lined the streets and stood solemnly as Dlava’s hearse passed through
Workmen at the scene on the N54 Clones to Smithborough road at Legnakelly, Co. Monaghan, after the deadly crash
Many from the local community stood on Monaghan Street and at the town square, The Diamond, as a mark of support for the family
The victims’ families were said to be ‘hugely devastated’ and suffering from shock in the aftermath of the crash, in which the three other occupants of the car were injured
Earlier today, Kiea’s father Frankie McCann revealed how he rushed to the scene of the crash but was unable to save his daughter or her friend due to their catastrophic injuries.
Kiea’s sister Shaunice also paid tribute to her late sibling, writing on social media: ‘I really don’t know what to say.
‘I’m just so heartbroken over you, my little baby sister. I have no words to describe the emotions going through me right now. I really don’t know what to do without you.
‘I am just so lost and don’t understand how something like this could just happen to you and I just hope you know that we all love you so much.’
The scene on the N54 Clones to Smithborough road at Legnakelly was closed to allow for a forensic examination of the scene but has since reopened.
Young people embrace as the hearse carrying the remains of Kiea McCann arrives to the family home in Clones, Co. Monaghan
Heather Humphreys (left) TD for Cavan and Monaghan awaits the hearse carrying the remains of Kiea McCann as they are brought to the family home in Clones
Kiea’s remains were removed from a funeral home in Monaghan town and brought to Clones on Tuesday night
Hundreds of people formed a guard of honour as the hearse carrying the remains of Kiea McCann passed through Clones
A cortege of motorbikes and cars followed the hearse carrying the white coffin as it moved slowly through the town
Flowers outside Largy College in Clones after two of it’s teenage pupils were killed
Visiting Largy College on Tuesday, Social Protection Minister and local TD Heather Humphreys said that there was ‘a cloud over the town of Clones’
The incident took place on a stretch of the N54 between Clones and Smithborough on Monday between 6.15pm and 7pm
Superintendent Patrick O’Connell said members of the victims’ families visited the scene on Monday night.
‘(They are) suffering from shock and trauma. They were at the scene last night, so they’re trying to deal with the whole aftermath of that, and we’re there to try and support them,’ he said.
Mr O’Connell added that gardai and the victims’ relatives were ‘eternally grateful’ to members of the public who stopped to offer their help at the scene of the crash.
He also thanked the ‘brilliant’ emergency services who attended the ‘harrowing scene’ on Monday night.
A senior investigating officer has been appointed to the case, which is being directed from Monaghan Garda Station.
Gardai are appealing to people who witnessed the incident which took place at 6.45pm on Monday, or who have footage of a stretch of the N54 between Clones and Smithborough between 6.15pm and 7pm on Monday, to get in touch with gardai.