A5 crash: Funeral of Julia McSorley takes place in County Tyrone

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Christine McKane, Dane McKane and Julia McSorleyImage source, Pacemaker
Image caption,

Julia McSorley, right, Christine McKane, Dan McKane, who died in a crash on the A5 Tullyvar road in County Tyrone on Thursday

The first victim of Thursday's A5 crash to be laid to rest has been described as "selfless, smiling, kind and bubbly" at her funeral in County Tyrone.

Julia McSorley, 75, died along with two relatives when the minibus in which they were was travelling was in collision with a lorry.

Requiem Mass for Ms McSorley was celebrated on Sunday.

A funeral for the two other victims, siblings Dan and Christine McKane, will take place on Monday.

Four other people were injured in the incident.

Fr Roland Colhoun told mourners in St Eugene's Church in Glenock, County Tyrone that Ms McSorley was a "beautiful soul".

She happily put the needs of everyone else before herself, Fr Colhoun said, adding that she "didn't know the word 'no'".

She was "generous all the time, generous with her time, with her possessions, and to strangers too."

Image source, Pacemaker
Image caption,

Mourners heard of Julia McSorley's selflessness at her funeral on Sunday

"Julia never wanted to be first but in many way she was number one," he said.

"She was described at her wake as one in a million, number one in the hearts of her family."

Fr Colhoun said the community had been "engulfed in grief" since Thursday's crash, which, he said, must have been a harrowing experience for first responders.

"The loss of three members of a family, injury and death side by side," he said.

"The hospitalisation of four - we include in our prayers at Mass today Collete and Ina who are still in hospital and William and Anne-Marie who have been discharged."

Image source, Pacemaker
Image caption,

The funeral of Julia McSorley at St Eugene's Church in Glenock, County Tyrone on Sunday

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

"The McKane family was on a compassionate journey returning from a funeral in England. No-one knew that a tragedy and three more funerals awaited the family and the community," Fr Colhoun told mourners.

Col Stephen Howard, Aide-de-camp to Irish President Michael D Higgins expressed condolences to the family on behalf of the president.

Requiem Mass will be celebrated for Dan and Christine McKane on Monday at 12:00 BST in The Church of The Immaculate Conception, with interment afterwards in Strabane Cemetery.

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

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 in 2007.