Best friends killed in school dance crash were found touching hands

'The hands of the two girls touching as though they knew they were off to heaven together'

Kiea McCann, 17, and Dlava Mohamed, 16, were travelling to the end-of-school-year dance when the vehicle they were travelling in veered off the N54 and crashed into a tree just outside Clones, Co Monaghan, at 6.45pm Monday.

An 18-year-old woman is in a critical but stable condition at Cavan General Hospital, while a 60-year-old man is in a critical condition at Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital. An 18-year-old man also suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Kiea and Dlava had been close friends since Dlava’s family arrived in Clones as part of a resettlement programme for Syrians, ITV reported.

Funeral prayers for Dlava were held at the Clonskeagh Mosque and Cultural Centre in Dublin ahead of burial in Newcastle Muslim Cemetery. A mass for Kiea was held at the Sacred Heart Chapel in Clones before burial in Mount St Oliver’s Cemetery. Students from their school, Largy College in Clones, formed guards of honour at both services.

At Kiea’s funeral, priest John Chester spoke of her father Frankie’s frantic actions as he arrived at the scene of the crash and performed CPR on his daughter and her “soul friend” Dlava.

Reports earlier described how Frankie came upon the crash scene shortly after it occurred and held his daughter in his arms as emergency services rushed to the scene and made frantic efforts to try and save both girls.

“The hands of the two girls touching as though they knew they were off to heaven together,” Chester said.

“No father should have to witness such a terrible scene.”

Dlava's service was told the crash “shook the entire Muslim community and the entire people of Ireland”.

Sheikh Hussein Halawa said: “I would like to offer my sincere condolences to the father, mother and all family members.”

Afterwards, Dr Ali Selim, a senior member of staff at the Islamic Cultural Centre, said it had been a “very sad day”.

“Especially when you think of the circumstances of the (Mohamed) family,” he said. “They ran away from Syria because they didn’t feel safe, looking for protection, and unfortunately the place where they thought they would be safe, they were hit with this tragedy.”

A large crowd of mourners walked behind the cortege from Kiea’s home to the church ahead of her service in Clones and dozens of motorbikes revved at the church ahead of the arrival of the hearse.

Representatives of Irish President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar attended both funerals.

Ahead of the funerals, Largy College published tribute to the friends on its website.

It described Dlava as a "gorgeous soul who radiated goodness" and said Kiea was a "friendly, kind and warm-hearted girl, who always demonstrated a willingness to support others".

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