Aughnacloy A5 crash: Strabane community in shock ahead of funerals

Christine McKane, Dan McKane and Julia McSorley

The first funeral of three members of the same family who died in a minibus crash in Aughnacloy, County Tyrone, will be held on Sunday.

Hundreds gathered for a vigil on Friday for Dan McKane, his sister Christine McKane and their aunt Julia McSorley.

They were killed when their minibus was in collision with a lorry on the A5 Tullyvar Road on Thursday morning.

There have been calls for urgent improvements to the road following several serious crashes.

The family had been returning to Strabane, County Tyrone, from a family funeral in England when it happened.

Four other people were injured.

Requiem Mass for Ms McSorley will be celebrated at St Eugene's Church, Glenock, at 11:30 BST on Sunday with interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery.

A joint funeral service for Christine and Dan McKane will take place on Monday.

Requiem Mass will be celebrated at 12:00 BST in The Church of The Immaculate Conception, with interment afterwards in Strabane Cemetery.

Prayers were said and candles lit at the vigil in Strabane on Friday evening

Father Declan Boland, a priest in Strabane, said the family and the community were in total disbelief at the tragedy.

"The community are struggling to comprehend what is happening," he told the BBC's The North West Today programme.

"We have to face into the horror of the bodies coming home and then the funerals."

'Not statistics'

Thursday's fatal crash is the latest to happen on the A5 road, which forms part of the main route between Londonderry and Dublin.

Plans to upgrade the road between Aughnacloy and New Buildings were announced in 2007.

But they have been delayed amid funding issues and legal challenges.

The Department for Infrastructure said the estimated cost of the project was £1.6bn - up £400m since the last estimate.

Campaigners from Enough Is Enough, a group calling for urgent improvments to the route, previously said 44 people have died on the road since plans to upgrade it were first announced.

"That's the statistics of it, but these are not statistics," the group's Niall McKenna told BBC News NI.

"These are families that are dealing with trauma and tragedy and our view is that they shouldn't have to deal with it."

On Saturday afternoon, Enough is Enough unveiled a banner at the GAA Ulster Championship match between Monaghan and Derry.

The banner was held on the pitch of a GAA match between Monaghan and Derry

Fr Boland visited the home of Ms McKane on Thursday where people had come together to pay tribute.

"People were just gathering in groups, not saying an awful lot but just being there in silent solidarity, embracing one another," he said.

Speaking at the vigil in Strabane on Friday evening, Fr Boland said the community had come together to "stand in solidarity" with the family and grieving relatives.

The community then prayed the rosary in memory of the victims and in support of those who were injured.

"It's just important to show the family that we're all with them," one woman attending the vigil told BBC News NI.

"It's a tragic loss for the town of Strabane."

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Alan Kilpatrick, who lives on the road where the crash happened, said it was dangerous.

He was one of the first people to arrive at the scene of the crash on Thursday morning.

"I don't want to see what I saw again... because this is avoidable with a better road," he told the BBC News NI.

He said there was a high volume of traffic on the road, including heavy commercial vehicles.

"Here is a main road between the largest city on the island, the whole north-west of the island and it's absolutely horrendous," Mr Kilpatrick said.