Crash victims will have funerals in Norway

The father of the Co Limerick woman who was killed along with her young daughter in a road crash in Poland revealed yesterday that the funerals will take place in Norway, where she had settled four years ago after she had married.

Yvonne Long, aged 30, from Curraghchase, Kilcornan, died with her daughter Ella, aged two, when their car was hit by a van in Poland last Wednesday.

Her husband, Soren Buchtrup, who is Danish, and their younger child, Noah, aged seven months, were not injured.

The couple had travelled from their home in Bergen, Norway, to attend a wedding in Slovakia.

They were on their way to Krakow in Poland to catch a return flight home when the accident happened.

Their car was parked when a van driven by an elderly Polish man ploughed into them. He has been questioned by police.

The couple moved to Norway after Soren, a helicopter pilot, started working oil rig flights on the North Sea.

Yvonne’s father, John Long, said yesterday the bodies of his daughter and grandchild have not been released by the authorities for burial as the investigation into the crash is ongoing.

Mr Long said: “ When Yvonne was last here at home in Kilcornan she referred to Norway as home. Even when Soren remarked to her that she was going home to Ireland for a visit, she said to him ‘home is here’. We will have a memorial service here some time later.

“Angela [Yvonne’s mother] was speaking to Soren for two hours on Skype the other evening. He returned to Norway and has a friend looking after Noah. The company Soren works for are looking after the funeral arrangements. However it could be another while before the authorities release Yvonne and Ella’s bodies. The funerals will take place in Bergen.”

The family had just moved into a new home and Yvonne’s mother and older sister, Vivienne, went over to help her decorate the house.

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