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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Stephen Maguire

Seaside Donegal town of Moville to come to a standstill for funerals of tragic Lough Foyle crash family

A seaside town will come to a standstill tomorrow when a father and his two children are laid to rest following a horrific car crash.

John, Tomas and Amelia Mullan will be buried after 11am funeral mass on Monday at St Pius X Parish Church in Moville, Donegal.

The children’s mother and John’s wife Geraldine, 45, will lead mourners at the funeral.

Mrs Mullan, a nurse at Letterkenny University Hospital, was the only person to survive when the family’s car slid across a wet road on Thursday night last at Quigley’s Point and careered into Lough Foyle.

The wreckage of the car in which three people lost their lives at Quigley's Point on Lough Foyle in Co Donegal is taken away for further forensic investigations (Joe Boland/PA Wire)

She managed to climb onto the roof of the upturned car and was rescued a short time later but her husband and children died.

In keeping with Government guidelines on Covid, only a small number of people can attend today’s funeral.

However, hundreds of people are expected to line the route from the family’s home to the church.

The funeral mass, which will be conducted by parish priest Fr Pat O’Hagan, will also be streamed online on www.movilleparish.com.

Among those who will attend the funeral mass will be Mrs Mullan’s family who will travel from her hometown in Williamstown, Co Galway.

Mr and Mrs Mullan met when Geraldine treated his ill mother and the pair fell in love.

Garda are investigating if ongoing roadworks could have played a part in the accident which claimed the lives of the young family.

Forensic investigators are beginning a painstaking investigation into what caused dad John to lose control of the vehicle at Three Trees in Quigley’s Point.

One major aspect of their investigation is roadworks in the area on the R238 which were ongoing in the days prior to the tragedy.

It has been confirmed that the road where John lost control had been completely resurfaced just a couple of days beforehand.

It was also a wet and dark night when the tragedy occurred as the family returned from playing ten pin bowling in Derry.

Local people also claimed there was an extremely high tide that night and that waves were breaking over the embankment and out onto the road.

Emergency services at the scene of tragic accident on the road between Muff and Quigley's Point in North East Donegal (Steven McAuley/McAuley Multimedia)

Road warnings about traffic repairs lined the side of the road where the accident happened.

It is also believed that some line markings along the road had not yet been completed before the accident occurred.

On Friday evening after the tragedy at approximately 6.15pm a line-marking truck arrived at the scene to carry out some work.

Garda Superintendent Eugene McGovern confirmed the road had just been resurfaced

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