A fundraiser to repatriate a Kurdish family of three who died in a crash in Co Galway last week has raised over €30,000 only hours after being set up.
Karzan Sabah, his wife Shahen Qasm and their eight-month-old daughter Lina died in a three-vehicle collision on the M6 near Ballinasloe last Thursday evening.
The family had been living in Ireland since 2017.
The fundraiser is being organised by friends of the family in order to cover some of the costs associated with the repatriation.
It met its initial target of €10,000 in 90 minutes and as of tonight it has raised triple that figure.
John Carey, a family friend who set up the GoFundMe, said “a light was extinguished from so many lives” when the family were killed.
“Their lives were only just beginning, with Karzan having just submitted his PhD thesis, secured a new job, and of course the unbridled joy of Lina being born. They were so happy,” he said.
“We now desperately want to repatriate them back to their families in Erbil in the Kurdish region of Iraq so that they can be close to their loved ones. It would have meant a great deal to Karzan and Shahen.”
Tributes have been paid to the family throughout recent days.
Sabah had recently completed his PhD in Agriculture and was “an avid researcher” who was set to take up a role with Teagasc.
The Chaplain at NUI Galway, Fr Ben Hughes, said the tragic loss of the family has “ignited a huge compassionate sense of kindness and heartfelt support right across the country” but also among the community at NUI Galway.
He told RTÉ’s Drivetime that he had been able to make contact with Sabah’s family and said they were “tremendously grateful for the support they have received” since the news of the deaths arose.
Earlier, it emerged the family were ready to move to Carlow for work when they were killed.
Co-founder of Kurdish Art Nergez Group Ireland and Kurdish Radio Ireland Hiwa Wahab told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the family had arrived on a student visa to Ireland and Karzan was submitting his PhD research to NUI Galway.
“He had a plan to move to Carlow. On the day of the accident he was there to view a property to bring his family to Carlow and start a new life there.”
The family and the driver and sole occupant of a car which had been travelling in the opposite direction on the motorway, Jonasz Lach, were all pronounced dead at the scene and their bodies were removed to Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, for post-mortems.
A third car was also involved in the incident as Gardaí believe debris from the initial collision struck the vehicle and caused the driver to crash.
The driver of the third car was the only occupant of that vehicle. She was taken to hospital for non life-threatening treatment.
Gardaí have appealed for witnesses to the incident to come forward, especially drivers with dashcam footage filmed along the stretch of motorway around the time of the collision.
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