The heartbreaking final photos of two best friends killed when a car crashed into a tree on the way to their school ball show the happy pair dressed up for the occasion.
Kiea McCann, 17, and Dlava Mohamed, 16, died in the crash near the Irish border about 6.45pm on Monday, local police said.
The girls’ death notices described them as best friends.
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Five people were in the car when it crashed on the N54 in Monaghan on its way to Largy College Debs ball, a dinner-dance event for Year 12 students.
An 18-year-old woman, believed to be Dlava’s sister, was hospitalised in a critical but stable condition and an 18-year-old man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, BBC reports.
The 60-year-old driver was also taken to hospital in a critical condition.
Kiea’s older sister Shaunice said she was lost for words.
“I really don’t know what to do without you,” she wrote on social media.
“I am just so lost and don’t understand how something like this could just happen to you.
“I would do anything just to have you here with me one last time, just to tell you that I love you and need you.”
Her devastated father told the Irish Independent: “There was great excitement here in the house before they went out.
“We had food and champagne and balloons, and it was going to be a great night.”
Kiea’s mother Teresa said her daughter and Dlava became best friends when the two families moved to Clones at the same time.
Dlava’s death notice said she was a “cherished and much-loved daughter” who will be “sadly missed” by her two brothers and five sisters.
Superintendent Patrick O’Connell said the vehicle left the road and hit a tree, and described the scene as “particularly harrowing”.
He said the girls’ families were “suffering from shock and trauma”.
Police have appealed for witnesses as investigations continue.
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