TORN APART BY FREAK ACCIDENT

Church urges prayers for injured girl, 5, after mum & sister killed.

- ORLAITH CLINTON and MAURICE FITZMAURICE

Smash Scene emergency services in Co Antrim

A CHURCH yesterday called for prayers for a little girl after her mum and sister were killed in a horrific road crash.

In a post on its Facebook page, Bushmills Presbyterian Church said their “love and deepest sympathy is extended” to the family of Clare Smyth.

Mrs Smyth and her three-year-old daughter Bethany died in a crash involving a quad bike and a tractor on the Whitepark Road near Ballycastle, Co Antrim, at around 4.50pm on Tuesday.

The family’s eldest daughter five-year-old Hannah was airlifted from the scene to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast, where her father Ryan remains at her bedside.

Rev John Stanbridge, of Ballycastle and Croaghmore Presbyterian Church, said the “tragic and freak accident has changed a family forever”.

He added: “Ryan, Clare, Hannah and Bethany are much - loved members of our church.

“In making this statement, I have spoken to Ryan, who is at his daughter Hannah’s bedside in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast.

“He would like express his thanks for the prayers of everyone, especially those in Ballycastle, and asks that people continue to pray for Hannah.