Tragic road crash victim Kiea McCann will be laid to rest today
Friends and classmates of the girls will provide a guard of honour at the funeral services in both counties.
The teenagers were killed in a road crash outside Clones in Co Monaghan on Monday evening.
They had been travelling to a Debs ball at the time of the crash when the car they were in hit a tree.
A hearse carrying Dlava’s remains has departed from the family home in Clones ahead of her funeral at Clonskeagh Mosque in Dublin later.
A coach transporting family and friends of the teenager followed the cortege as it began the journey south for the funeral service at 1.30 pm.
Dlava will be laid to rest in Newcastle Muslim Cemetery.
A funeral procession will leave Kiea’s home in Clones at 1.30pm and travel to the Sacred Heart Church in the town where her funeral mass will take place.
She will be laid to rest at Mount St Oliver’s Cemetery.
Largy College principal Sharon Magennis said the school community had been absolutely devastated by the incident.
Tragic road crash victim
Dlava Mohamed will be laid to rest today
Ms Magennis paid tribute to the work of gardaí, especially Gerard Tolan, who she said helped the school coordinate its response to the tragedy.
She thanked the entire community for the support that has been offered.
Ms Magennis said there had been a “national outpouring of grief” and that the school was very grateful to all those who had sent emails and messages of support and offers of help.
She said the girls had been “best friends” since Dlava’s family arrived in Clones as part of a resettlement programme for Syrians.
Ms 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 show of respect and support, hundreds of locals formed a guard of honour in Clones as the two teenagers’ remains were brought back to their family homes.
People wept and comforted each other as the hearse carrying Kiea’s remains arrived in the town on Tuesday night, pausing for a moment outside Dlava’s home.
Women stood in the doorway of Dlava’s family home and sang a lament as her remains were brought into the house yesterday evening.
Books of Condolence will be opened for Kiea and Dlava at Largy College tomorrow from 9am to 1pm.
Three other people were injured in the single vehicle crash on the N54 at Legnakelly on Monday evening.
Dlava’s 18-year-old sister is in a critical but stable condition in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.
A 60-year-old man, the driver of the car, was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, where he remains in a critical condition.
An 18-year-old boy was treated for non life-threatening injuries and has since been discharged from hospital.
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