Disco deaths in Tyrone - Facing tragedy

As any parent who ever watched a teenage son or daughter tip their toe into the grown-up world, some degree of apprehension is unavoidable.

Questions abound:

“Have I prepared them properly? Are they smart enough to avoid danger? Will they call if there’sa problem? What time will they be home at?”

These are standard, unavoidable worries.

The parents of the three teenagers — a 17-year-old girl and boys aged 16 and 17 — who died in a crush outside a St Patrick’s Day disco in Co Tyrone asked the same questions orat least versions of them but to no avail. Tragedy called and three young lives were lost in a way that will leave a mark on everyone who was at the venue or waiting for one of the young people to come home safely.

Even in a world stained by the lunacy in Christchurch, and Utrecht too, the loss of young people with, to use that chastening phrase, their whole lives before them is always difficult to take and understand.

This tragedy is no different and heartbreak is exacerbated by incomprehension.