Funerals are taking place for two teenage best friends who were killed after the car they were travelling in crashed while on the way to a ball.
Kiea McCann, 17, and Dlava Mohamed, 16, died when the car they were travelling in left the road and crashed into a tree just outside Clones, Co Monaghan, on Monday.
They were on the way to their school’s Debs ball when the crash happened.
Funeral prayers for Dlava are being held at the Clonskeagh Mosque and Cultural Centre in Dublin ahead of burial in Newcastle Muslim Cemetery later on Thursday.
A hearse carrying Dlava’s remains left the family home in Clones early on Thursday for the two-hour journey to the mosque.
Read more: Hundreds of people form guard of honour for Debs ball crash victim
A funeral mass for Kiea is being held at the Sacred Heart Chapel in Clones. She will later be laid to rest in Mount St Oliver’s Cemetery.
A large crowd of mourners walked behind the cortege from Kiea’s home to the church ahead of the service.
The principal of the teenagers’ secondary school said the girls had been “best friends” since Dlava’s family arrived in Clones as part of a resettlement programme for Syrians.
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Largy College principal Sharon Magennis described Dlava, who had just completed her Junior Cert exam, as “always very happy” and “bubbly”, and Kiea as “pleasant and courteous” and who had hoped to go on to study childcare.
In a mark of respect and support, hundreds of people formed guards of honour in Clones as the two teenagers’ remains were taken back to their family homes in recent days.
Three other occupants of the car were also injured after the vehicle veered off the N54 and into a tree, just outside Clones, on Monday at 6.45pm.
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.
