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by Linda McGrory
THE Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, travelled to
the Inishowen peninsula yesterday to 'show his
solidarity' with the community following the single
worst road accident in the history of the State.
Dr Hegarty visited the home of pensioner farmer,
Hughie Friel, 66, Dunaff, Clonmany, who was one of
the eight men killed in the horror two-car crash at
Glasmullen, Drumfries between Buncrana and Clonmany,
on Sunday night.
Mr Friel, an unmarried man and lifelong teetotaller,
was driving home from weekly bingo in Buncrana, when
his red Toyota Corolla car was involved in a
collision with a black Volkswagen Passat carrying
eight young men.
Gardai have appealed for witnesses to the accident
and revealed that, just moments before the fatal
collision, the Passat struck another car, a white
Renault Megane with such force, it knocked the front
right-hand wheel from the car. Gardai expect to
interview the female driver of the Megane, who
suffered only minor injuries and who will be crucial
to the ongoing investigation.
The bishop's spokesman, Fr Michael Canny said Dr
Hegarty intended visiting all the families of the
victims, in Fahan, Burnfoot, Buncrana and Clonmany,
in the coming days.
“When he heard about this horrific accident, the
bishop simply wanted to go to the community and
express his solidarity with them. |
“Like everyone else, he
is just numb and cannot put into words the enormity
of this tragedy. He hopes that the whole community
with rally round the bereaved at this terrible time.
“The bishop plans to visit more of the victims'
families tomorrow and in the days to come,“ added Fr
Canny.
Dr Hegarty arrived in Clonmany around 2.30pm and
chatted with a number of people in the local Centra
supermarket and other shops in the village.
He travelled to Mr Friel's home where he spent about
half and hour comforting the victim's siblings
including three of his brothers, Tony, Denis and
Paddy. Mr Friel also has brothers and sisters living
in England and elsewhere in Ireland who are in the
process of returning home.
Fr Canny, who grew up just yards from the Friel
family home, described it as 'a very sad house' and
said the deceased was “a lovely man“.
“Hughie was a lovely, down-to-earth man who was a
teetotaller all his life. It is so sad to think he
went out to play a game of bingo and never came home
again.“ |
