Irish community raises more than €40k for burial of Kurdish family killed in road collision

NEWPORT, Co. Mayo, Ireland (Kurdistan 24) – When Karzan Sabah, his wife Shahen Qasm, and their infant daughter were tragically killed in a vehicle collision in western Ireland late last week, the Kurdish community and his colleagues in County Galway were shocked.

On Aug. 19, the family of three were struck by the driver of a car traveling the wrong way on a motorway on their way back from viewing a new home in Co. Carlow, where Sabah had secured a job with Teagsac, Ireland’s Agriculture and Food Development Authority. The driver of the other car was killed and a fifth person was injured but expected to survive.

A friend and colleague of Sabah’s, John Carey, started a fundraiser late on behalf of NIU Galway on Monday to repatriate the family’s remains to Erbil for burial “so that they can be close to their loved ones.” Less than 12 hours later, as of 6 a.m. local time Tuesday morning, more than €57,000 ($66,000) had been donated, surpassing the €40,000 goal.

Originally from Erbil, 36-year-old Sabah had been living in Galway city since arriving in Ireland on a student visa in 2017. 

Sabah had completed a doctorate in Environmental Science at the National University of Ireland, Galway, after earning an undergraduate degree in Agriculture at Salahaddin University in the Kurdistan Region’s capital. Qasm, 31, was a qualified engineer, also from Erbil, and the couple were active in the Kurdish community in Ireland.

Their eight-month-old daughter Lena was born in Ireland in December and the couple’s families in the Kurdistan Region had yet to meet her, according to the fundraising page.

Sabah "was trilingual and he spoke Kurdish, English and Arabic, he also had a love for reading and music and to travel. Kurdish food was his speciality, and his wife Shahen was a good cook, and was also an engineer," the Irish Kurdish Society said in a statement.

In a Twitter thread, Carey described his friend as “a lovely, gentle soul and a great entomologist” who loved Ireland. “For a guy from Kurdistan, he sure knew his way around a wet meadow in Co. Galway,” he said.

He’d always be excited when he found a few Sciomyzidae- the snail killing flies we both worked on. For a guy from Kurdistan, he sure knew his way around a wet meadow in Co. Galway 😅 pic.twitter.com/m1bNsuhYnH

— John Carey (@jgjcarey) August 23, 2021

"There is little to add other than Karzan was a lovely guy, incredibly generous with his time and a great mentor and teacher to the many students who worked with him," Carey told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday.

The Nergz Art Group, which works with the roughly 4,000-strong Kurdish community in Ireland, organized a vigil for the family at the collision site on Saturday.

"Everyone is so so sad. Every house I talk to it is like there is a funeral in every house since everyone living here sees this and it is so tragic," the Irish Sun quoted Nergz Art Group co-founder Hiwa Wahab as saying at the memorial.

NUI Galway also paid tribute to the researcher, saying he had recently submitted his PhD thesis “and started postdoc research work, with all of the hopes and ambitions of a young academic charting a career path and life for himself and his young family.” Teagsac opened a book of condolences for their colleague. A memorial service will be held for Sabah at NIU Galway later this year, Teagasc said.