Online book of condolence opened for Kurdish family killed in Galway motorway crash
Karzan Sabah Ahmed, Shahen Qasm and their nine-month-old baby Lena, who died in a crash on the M6 outside Ballinasloe, Co Galway last week. Picture: Kurdish Irish Society
A book of condolence has opened online for the Kurdish family killed in a tragic motorway crash in Galway last week.
Karzan Sabah Ahmed, his wife, Shahen Qasm, and their nine-month-old baby daughter Lena died when another motorist entered the motorway on the wrong side and crashed head-on into their vehicle.
In a statement, Mayor of Galway Colette Connelly extended her "heartfelt sympathies to the families and relatives of Karzan Sabah D Ahmed, his wife Shahen Qasm and their baby daughter eight-month-old Lena."
"I would like to extend my sympathies also to the wider Kurdish community for whom this tragic loss of life is so incomprehensible and equally devastating," she said.
Anyone who wishes to share their condolences can do so via the Galway City Council website.
Meanwhile, a fundraising appeal to repatriate their bodies has raised over €85,000 less than 24 hours after it was set up.
A friend and colleague of Karzan’s, John Carey, started the GoFundMe late yesterday evening, with an original goal of €40,000.
Mr Carey said it had taken a few days to process the tragic, shocking and “senseless” death of his friend Karzan and his family, but there would be “some small comfort in getting them home.”
“He was a lovely, gentle soul and a great entomologist,” he wrote.
“Karzan was always there. A friend, a colleague, a part of a great group of people. He made a lasting contribution to our understanding of Irish biodiversity and for that I’ll be forever grateful.”
Karzan and his family had been living in Ireland since 2017 and were due to return home to visit family and introduce baby Lena to them. It is understood they were viewing a property in Carlow, where Karzan had been offered a position as a lecturer.
“Their lives were only just beginning,” Mr Carey shared, “with Karzan having just submitted his PhD thesis, secured a new job, and of course the unbridled joy of Lina being born.
"They were so happy. The only small comfort we have is knowing that they are still together.”
“You would not have meet two nicer people, who loved Ireland and touched the lives of those they met," he wrote.
"Many of us didn't get to meet Lina, and she never got to meet her family in Iraq. The shortness of her life is particularly difficult to understand.
“The least we can do is try and get them home so that they can find some peace.”
You can donate to the fundraiser here.
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