Best friends die side by side on debs night
Post mortems complete and garda investigation continues
The two girls who died in a car crash on debs night in neighbouring County Monaghan on Monday have been named as Kiea McCann (17) and Dlava Mohamed (16).
Their distraught families, in death notices posted online, have said the teenagers were best friends who died alongside each other.
Funeral arrangements for both girls who lived locally in Clones have yet to be confirmed.
Meanwhile, two others remain in a critical condition in hospital and a third with non-life-threatening injuries.
All four passengers were students of Largy College on their way to Clones to celebrate debs night with their friends.
What should have been one of the best nights of their young lives turned to tragedy when the car in which they were travelling crashed on the N54 at around 6:45pm on Monday evening, July 31.
It's understood the vehicle left the road and hit a tree.
The Clones to Smithborough Road at Legnakelly reopened yesterday evening (Tuesday) following the completion of a technical examination by Garda forensic collision investigators at the scene.
The single vehicle involved in the accident has since been removed from the site.
Speaking at a media briefing outside Clones Garda Station yesterday evening, Superintendent Patrick O'Connell extended his sympathies to the families, saying that they are "suffering from shock and trauma".
"They were at the scene last night, so they're trying to deal with the aftermath," he said.
A family liaison officer has been appointed to each family and gardaí say their focus is on supporting the families and the community.
Supt O’Connell described the scene of the single vehicle collision as "harrowing".
He paid tribute to the emergency services personnel and members of the public who stopped to help.
"The fire service, the ambulance service were particularly brilliant. Without them we wouldn’t have been able to manage this incident," he said.
The senior officer said the incident was "extremely traumatic" for the local community.
There have been a number of collisions on that particular stretch of road in the past and that will form part of the garda investigation.
A senior investigating officer has also been appointed and an incident room has been set up at Monaghan Garda Station.
Gardaí also confirmed that post-mortems have been completed on the bodies of the two victims, the results of which are not being released for operational purposes.
People lined the streets of Clones yesterday evening to form a guard of honour for Kiea McCann to show their support for the family.
Her remains were removed from a funeral home in Monaghan town and brought home to Clones.
Kiea and her family lived at Fitzpatricks Square in Clones. She was predeceased by her brother Jason.
Kiea is survived by her heartbroken family - her mum Teresa, her father Franky, brothers and sisters; Brandon, Jentzen, Frankie, Michaela, Shauna, Shaunice, Tameaka, Tanisha, Amelia; her grandmothers Mary Ellen McCann and Anna Rose Flynn; her nephews Tadhg and Liam; her uncles and aunts, cousins and friends.
Her best friend Dlava Mohamed lived with her family on The Diamond in Clones.
Dlava was the daughter of Hohamed and Zenab Mohamed. She is survived by her brothers Mostafa and Rashid and her sisters Lilov, Asmahan, Auin and Giham.
Authorities have appealed for privacy for the grieving families.
Meanwhile, the male driver of the car (60) remains in a critical condition in Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.
The female teenager (18) is in a critical but stable condition in Cavan General Hospital.
The male teenager (18) continues to receive treatment in Cavan Hospital for non-life threatening injuries.
Garda appeal
Gardaí in Monaghan continue to appeal to anyone who may have witnessed this collision to contact them.
Any road users who may have camera footage (including dashcam) and were travelling on the N54 between Clones and Smithborough on Monday evening, between 6:15pm and 7pm are asked to make this footage available to gardaí.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Monaghan Garda Station on 047-77200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666-111 or any garda station.
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