Monaghan crash victim's family 'overwhelmed' by support from Clones community

Dlava Mohamed's funeral service will take place at at Clonskeagh Mosque and Culture Centre in Clonskeagh, Dublin, on Thursday.

The family of Dlava Mohamed who died in a car crash on her way to her debs on Monday evening has said they are “overwhelmed by the support from the local community”.

Hohamed and Zenab Mohamed and their family have also been holding a bedside vigil for their other daughter Auin Mohamed, 18, who was a passenger in the car and remains critical in hospital.

The sisters from Syria were travelling with their friend Oisin Clerkin, 18, who is receiving treatment in hospital and Keia McCann, 17, who also died when the car hit a tree.

The driver of the car, Anthony McGinn, 60, from Newbliss is in critical condition in the Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast. Both girls will be laid to rest on Thursday. Keia’s funeral is taking place in Clones in the afternoon and Dlava’s service is being held in the Clonskeagh mosque in south Dublin in the afternoon.

The Mohammed family has released a statement expressing their thanks to the people of Clones.

They asked their friend Angela Graham, CEO of the Clones Family Resource Centre, to speak on their behalf about the “tragic loss of their precious daughter”.

Ms Graham told the Irish Examiner the family has “close links and friendships and family in the community”.

They said they “and the wider Syrian Muslim community, here in Clones, feel overwhelmed by the support from the local community. We say, we are all one family”.

The statement said Dlava would return to her family on Wednesday night at 7pm where she would be “resting among her family and many friends”. It continued: “We particularly want to thank the community of Clones for their years of friendship and support and now sharing in our grief.

“We want to express our deep gratitude to their emergency services, gardaí and fire and ambulance service.

“We also want to express our condolences to the McCann family on the tragic loss of their young daughter Keia, Dlava’s best friend."

Ms Graham said she had known the family since 2018 when they arrived from Syria.

The Mohamed family told her Dlava had “blossomed during that time” and that she was in the process of receiving Irish citizenship.

She had formed a deep friendship with Keia McCann, and they were often seen sitting on the steps outside the front of Dlava’s house in the Diamond in Clones.

“They are devastated as you can imagine,” Ms Graham continued. “They are a lovely family who have really gotten on so well with the community.

“They are also trying to cope with their daughter Auin who is in Beaumont hospital and is very sick. She was in Cavan General Hospital but now she is in Beaumont.  I have no update yet on the driver of the car, Mr McGinn, but it is just devastating."

Ms Graham said Clones had opened its heart to families from Syria. 

"They are very hard workers, but their English is a barrier at the moment as well as their health, many of them were in refugee camps before they came to Ireland, so their health is a challenge for them.

“There are around 100 asylum-seekers and refugees in Clones, and they have breathed new life into the town as so many of the younger ones from Clones were leaving and moving to the cities."

Ms Graham said locals continue to hold Auin Mohamed as well as Anthony McGinn, and Oisin Clerkin “in their thoughts and prayers”.

Mourners at the vigil for Kiea McCann on Tuesday night. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Auin had posed for photos with her sister Dalva, and Keia McCann ahead of their celebrations with their Leaving Cert friends from the local Largy College on Monday evening.

The school friends had all gathered in the Diamond, in the centre of Clones, on Monday evening at 5pm.

Excitement was in the air as they boarded buses and cars bound for the Packie Willis venue in Monaghan town.

However, nobody could foresee the tragedy that was about to unfold just a little over an hour later.

The incident happened on the N54 between Clones and Co. Monaghan at around 6:45pm and the two girls were pronounced dead at the scene.

A silent vigil took place for Keia at 11pm on Tuesday night and hundreds of locals will gather in Clones on Wednesday night to form a guard of honour for Dlava whose remains will be returned to her family.

Keia’s funeral will take place on Thursday at 2pm at the Sacred Heart Chapel in Clones and she will be laid to rest in Mount St Oliver’s Cemetery in Clones afterwards.

Dlava will be leaving the Diamond Clones on Thursday morning at 6.45am to arrive at Clonskeagh Mosque and Culture Centre on Roebuck Road at 10am for her funeral services.

She will be laid to rest at 3pm in Newcastle Muslim Cemetery.