There is an “air of shock and sadness” in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo over the death of a 12-year-old boy following a collision between a train and a car last night, a local parish priest has said.
The boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
The man was taken to hospital by ambulance for treatment. His injuries are described as not life-threatening.
Speaking to RTÉ’s News at One, Ballyhaunis parish priest Fr Stephen Farragher said: “It’s the kind of thing you hope you won’t be hearing on the news and you hope it won’t be visited on your own community.”
Fr Farragher said he was called to the scene yesterday evening, where emergency services were already in attendance.
“I said some prayers with the little boy and spoke to the members of the gardaí, I spoke to members of the family and this morning I could pick it up at the congregation at our 10 O’clock Mass,” he said.
“No names have been released yet, but people in the congregation knew who I was referring to and there’s a real air of shock and sadness.
“Even as I walk down the main street, anybody that is talking, that’s what’s on their lips because the families are so well known. We think as well of the train driver, so for all involved, it’s just a terrible, terrible time,” Fr Farragher added.
He said the boy and the man were well-known members of the community.
“We’ve been walking on thin air here for the last month since winning Sam Maguire and of course the Mayo captain Jack Coyne is a local man here.
“[The local GAA club] had Sam Maguire here last Thursday, and the little boy and his family were photographed with Sam McGuire. The family are all mad GAA enthusiasts,” he added.
Fr Farragher said the boy was coming from underage training at the time that the accident happened.
“They’re a very known, loved family, both families of the young boy’s mam and dad are both very well known locally,” he said.
Fr Farragher said the community is coping as best they can at this tragic time.
“Even people who don’t have a strong faith will always gravitate towards the church to light a candle or to say a prayer, and I would have seen extra people at mass this morning,” he said.
“That’s how people cope at a time like this. They chat to each other and they offer a prayer.
“The thoughts and prayers of everybody in this community and beyond are with the family because it’s every parent’s nightmare to lose a child in any circumstance, but particularly this kind of circumstance where it was at a level crossing on a railway track,” Fr Farragher added.