Creeslough Parish Priest Fr John Joe Duffy has sent words of condolence and prayer to the bereaved families in Strabane following Thursday’s road tragedy.
Dan McKane (54), his sister, Christine McKane (49) and their aunt, Julia McSorley, aged in her 70s, died when the minivan they were travelling in was involved in a collision with a lorry near Aughnacloy on Thursday.
Mr McKane and his sister were from Strabane while their aunt was from Newtownstewart.
Hundreds of people gathered for a vigil in Strabane last night to remember the victims and to pray for the four others who were in the minibus and suffered serious injuries.
Fr Declan Boland, Parish Priest of Strabane, read out a message from Fr John Joe Duffy, who has been caring for his community during a time of immense grief following October’s tragic explosion.
Fr Boland said: “Before I came here this evening I had a telephone call from Fr John Joe Duffy in Creeslough. He wants me to extend to the family and the community in Strabane his deepest sympathy.
“He said that the Tyrone people had been with the Donegal people in time of great stress. He wanted to assure us of his prayers and thoughts.”
The Rosary was said at the vigil, which was held at a grotto near the McKane home. A moment of silence was observed and a candle was lit for each of the victims.
Fr Boland said: “We’re all at a loss of what to say, how to respond but we respond in the deepest way possible. We gather together as a community of faith.”
A special mass and vigil also took place in Aughnacloy to pray for those two have died and those who were injured.
The family was returning from the funeral of Mrs McSorley’s sister, Mary Wray, in Corby, England when the accident happened. Two of the injured, William McKane and his wife, Anne Marie were released from Craigavon Hospital on Thursday evening while their sisters, Collette and Ina are still being treated in Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital.
The funeral for Dan and Christine McKane will be held in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Strabane on Monday at 12 noon. Funeral Arrangements for Julia are yet to be released.
