Kurdish community mourns family killed in Galway crash

Sabah Karzan, Shahen Qasm and their eight-month-old baby Lena were killed during Thursday's crash. Picture: Kurdish Irish Society/ Facebook

The family of three killed during a horrific car accident on the M6 in Galway earlier this week have been named locally.

Sabah Karzan, his wife, Shahen Qasm and their eight-month-old baby Lena died in the three-car crash near the westbound approach to the M6 at Poolboy near Ballinasloe at 7.40pm on Thursday evening.

The family were members of the Irish - Kurdish community.  

Sharing a picture of the three on Facebook, the Kurdish Irish Society expressed its “deepest sympathy to the family.” 

"May their souls be returned to Allah and let them rest in peace. God rest their souls,” the society wrote.

Tributes to the family

Karzan Saba grew up in Erbil - the capital of the the Kurdish region of Iraq. He studied agriculture at Salahaddin University.

He came to Ireland in 2017 on a student visa. He attended NUI Galway and obtained a PhD in the faculty of agriculture.

In a statement issued this afternoon, the Kurdish Irish Society described him as "a real family man who adored his wife Shahen and their little baby Lena."

"They [the family] loved Galway and all of its inhabitants, and the amount of messages on social media is a flowing tribute to this."

The society said Shahen had previously worked as an engineer. She too was originally from Erbil.

Earlier this week, Karzan had been offered a new job position in Carlow. 

On Thursday evening, he, Shahen and Lena left Galway for Carlow in the hopes of organising new accommodation. 

"They were a friendly family and well-liked in the community for their politeness, and always had a kind word and were very sociable," a Kurdish Irish spokesperson said.

"Karzan had a great connection with the Kurdish families in the Galway area and maintained his passion for being Kurdish. He was trilingual and he spoke Kurdish, English and Arabic, he also had a love for reading and music and to travel."

The society said the family will be "sadly missed by their families in Kurdistan, relatives, friends, Kurdish communities and all who knew them."

The group added that the repatriation of Karzan, Shahen and Lena was now being organised.

Three car collision

It is understood all three were killed instantly when their car collided with another vehicle that was being driven in the wrong direction down the motorway.

The driver of the vehicle which caused the incident, a Polish national, also died during the crash. 

He had been arrested previously in relation to several instances of dangerous driving.

The female driver of the third car escaped with what are described as “non-life-threatening injuries.” 

Post-mortem examinations on all of those killed are continuing at Portincula Hospital, Ballinasloe.

Gardaí in Galway have reiterated their appeal for any witnesses, particularly any road users who may have dashcam footage and were travelling on the M6 at the time of Thursday’s accident, to make this footage available to them.

Anyone with information has been asked to contact Ballinasloe Garda Station on 090 9631890, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.