Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Joint funeral for sister & brother killed in smash
Tragic aunt will be laid to rest today
FUNERALS of a sister and brother and their aunt killed in a car crash will be held today and tomorrow.
Dan and Christine McKane and Julia McSorley all died when the minivan they were in was in a collision with a lorry on Thursday morning.
Four other members of the same family were taken to hospital after the accident on the A5 near Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone.
The funeral of Mrs McSorley, a mother-of-five from Newtownstewart, will take place at 11.30am today at St
Eugene’s Church, Glenock with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery.
A joint funeral service for siblings Christine and Dan will take place on Monday at noon in The Church of The Immaculate Conception, with burial afterwards in Strabane Cemetery.
A vigil was held at Our Lady’s Grotto in Strabane on Friday – with hundreds of people coming out to remember the victims and show support to the
McKane and McSorley families. Friends and relatives of those killed were in attendance as mourners filled the Grotto, while more gathered on the surrounding streets.
A moment of silence was observed and a candle was lit for each of the victims.
Father Declan Boland, who held the vigil, thanked those in attendance.
He said: “Your presence here this evening is deeply appreciated. “We’re all at a loss of what to say, how to respond, but we respond in the deepest way possible – we gather together as a community of faith.”
Fr Boland expressed condolences to the family on behalf of the community in Strabane.
He added: “We’re standing in silent solidarity this evening with the McKane family, that they may not be overwhelmed by their loss.”
He also asked for prayers for the four other members of the family injured in the crash. Two have been discharged from hospital.
A mass was also held in Aughnacloy in memory of the victims.