Irish aid worker dies in car crash in Ethiopia

A 25-year-old Irish volunteer aid worker has died in a car accident in Ethiopia, it emerged today.

Joyce Campbell from Meenmore, Dungloe, Co Donegal had been in Ethiopia for just three weeks on an aid mission with the Dublin-based Vincentian Lay Missioners.

She was travelling in a car which was involved in an accident outside the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa last night.

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said two other Irish people in the car had been injured in the crash but were in a stable condition in hospital.

“All the families involved have been contacted,” he said.

He confirmed that no other car was involved in the accident. It is believed the driver may have taken evasive action to avoid an animal on the road.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is making arrangements with the Vincentian Order to have Ms Campbell’s body flown home to Donegal.

The Vincentian Lay Missionaries, which was formed in Dublin in 2003, sent seven volunteers to Vincentian Family projects in Ethiopia and Guatemala last year.

The volunteers pay for their fares, insurance and other expenses through fundraising.

A spokeswoman for the Vincentian Lay Missionaries said that its provincial Fr Kevin O’Shea and another priest, Fr Brian Moore, were travelling to Donegal to support Ms Campbell’s family.

The last Irish missionary to be killed abroad was Archbishop Michael Courtney, 58, a papal nuncio who was shot in an ambush in Burundi in 2003.