Appeal launched to help repatriate family killed in Ballinasloe road tragedy

A friend and colleague of a man who was killed, along with his wife and nine-month-old daughter, in last week's horrific road tragedy in Ballinasloe has launched a fundraising appeal to help repatriate their remains to the Kurdish region of Iraq.

Galway residents Karzan Sabah Ahmed, his wife Shahen Qasm, and their daughter Lena were killed on the M6 motorway at Poolboy, Ballinasloe, on Thursday evening.

It's understood that another motorist, Jonasz Lach, entered the motorway on the wrong side of the road and collided head on with the Ahmed family's vehicle. Mr Lach also died in the collision, while the driver of a third vehicle was treated in hospital for injuries.

This evening John Carey, a friend and colleague of Karzan, launched an online appeal to repatriate him and his families back to Erbil in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

John described Karzan as "a lovely, gentle soul and a great entomologist."

At the time of writing the Go Fund Me appeal is just a few hours old but there has already been a huge response to it, with hundreds of donations and the target of €10,000 already surpassed.

The link to the appeal is here.