TOO SAD FOR WORDS
Relatives mourn couple and baby daughter wiped out in M6 horror
DEVASTATED relatives of the family wiped out in the M6 crash are so grief-stricken they “can’t talk”, it emerged last night.
Iraqis Karzan Sabah, 36, his wife Shahen Qasm, 31, and eightmonth-old baby Lena were killed on Thursday when their car was struck by Polish man Jonasz Adam Lach, left, going the wrong way.
Haval Shareef of the Kurdish community said: “Karzan’s brother can’t talk, he just cries. His dad is an old man, he can’t talk, he just cries.”
THE family who died in the horror M6 crash were driving home after viewing a house they had planned to move to in Carlow.
Karzan Sabah, 36, his wife Shahen Qasm, 31, and their eight-month-old baby Lena had been in the town hours before they were killed last Thursday.
Karzan had secured a job to lecture in agriculture in Carlow and had met with a landlord as he and Shahen viewed a property.
But on their way back to their home in Galway, which was at Glenanail Drive, Riverside, tragedy struck.
Haval Shareef of the Kurdish Art Nergz Group Ireland told the Irish Mirror: “We are very sad.
“He found a job in Carlow and that evening, he found the house they wanted to live in as well.
“They were talking to the landlord and were going to move there because he found the job there.”
The family were struck head-on by another vehicle between junction 14 and 15 going westbound on the M6, near Ballinasloe.
The other car was being driven by Polish man Jonasz Adam Lach, who had travelled down the wrong side of the motorway.
Gardai are probing if the driver of the oncoming car – who had lived in Fisherman’s Wharf in Portumna, Co Galway – either drove into them deliberately or was high on drugs.
CANNABIS
Lach had previously been arrested by gardai in possession of a large amount of cannabis and was also facing dangerous driving charges over an incident on the M50 in Dublin.
The Kurdish Art Nergz Group Ireland translates news for the community and publishes it online.
Haval revealed they were contacted by Karzan’s pal when he read the story they had translated about the crash.
Haval said: “After we published the article, his friend called to us and he said ‘Karzan is lost, we don’t know where he is because he should be back in Galway. And we don’t know anything’.
“Then we called to the gardai and they said they had passed away in an accident.”
Haval and the group have been in contact with the families in Iraq.
He said: “We are talking to them all of the time. We also connected with the wife’s family. “They always are crying
and are very sad. Karzan’s brother can’t talk, he just cries. His dad is an old man, he can’t talk, he just cries. The family are very, very sad.”
The group are now trying to help organise for their bodies to be brought back to Iraq.
Haval said it will be another few days before the remains are released from hospital.
The Kurdish Art Nergz Group placed flowers at the scene on Saturday.
The Kurdish Irish Society said Karzan is from the Erbil city in the Kurdish region of Iraq and studied agriculture at Salahaddin University. He grew up in a time when Kurdistan and Iraq was ruled under the Saddam regime.
In 2011, he and Shahen, who was qualified as an engineer, emigrated to Plymouth where he completed his university degree in the UK where he studied his masters in research.
The couple then came to Ireland in 2017 where Karzan, on a student visa, attended NUIG in the faculty of agriculture. After four years studying he gained his PHD.
But they never got back to Iraq and their families never met the tot.
Zhyan Sharif and Philip Phelan of the Kurdish Irish Society Dublin and Ireland said: “[Karzan] was a real family man and adored his wife
Shahen and their little baby Lena. They loved Galway and all of its inhabitants and the amount of messages on social media is a flowing tribute to this.”
They added: “A very friendly family and well liked in the community for their politeness, and always had a kind word and were very sociable.
“Karzan and his family visited many panoramic sites in the Republic and in Northern Ireland as he was a keen lover of nature, flora and agriculture.
“His studies were intense in agriculture and the environment.
“Karzan had a great connection with the Kurdish families in the Galway area and maintained his passion for being Kurdish. He was
Karzan was a real family man and adored his wife and little baby KURDISH IRISH SOCIETY ON SAD LOSS YESTERDAY
trilingual and he spoke Kurdish, English and Arabic, he also had a love for reading and music and to travel. Kurdish food was his speciality, and his wife Shahen was a good cook, and was also an engineer.”
TRIBUTES
Tributes are continuing to flow in for the family.
NUI Galway said: “Karzan was a highly regarded researcher and in recent weeks he had submitted his PHD thesis and started postdoc research work, with all of the hopes and ambitions of a young academic charting a career path
and life for himself and his young family. The community of
NUI Galway is deeply saddened by such an untimely loss, in such tragic circumstances.
“Staff in the university chaplaincy are on hand to provide support to friends, colleagues and others who need it at this difficult time.”
Riverside Residents Association yesterday laid flowers at the family’s home.
They said: “Thanks to everyone for coming down to the house of the deceased and supporting their family and friends at this difficult time.
“We stood and prayed together in both Muslim and Catholic prayers. We all share your pain. It is heartbreaking. R.I.P.”