Tragedy causes shock and grief in Carlow community

The blue and yellow flag was at half mast yesterday evening as the Ballinkillen community in Co Carlow mourned the deaths of two young boys.

The Chada house is down a laneway near the centre of the village, which lies in the shadow of Mount Leinster.

It is a comparatively new home, which Kathleen and Sanjeev Chada built themselves.

Mr Chada (43) is of Indian descent. He works on computers from home and his wife is a nurse in Dublin.

Last night so many locals came to pay their respects that an adjacent field was turned into a car park.

Local parish priest Fr Declan Foley was with Ms Chada when the tragic news came through yesterday afternoon that her two sons were dead.

“It was like an earthquake hit us. It was devastating,” he said.

“You can’t put into words the shock and grief when we heard that news.”

Eoghan and Ruairí, who went to the local Ballinkillen National School, were members of the local GAA club.

Fr Foley described them as “two little sports fanatics. They were extremely involved in all aspects of local life.”

He added: “They were very outgoing and because everybody knows everybody it is going to impact on every man, woman and child.”

Ms Chada’s parents, Willy and Patsy Murphy, were with their daughter when the news came through.

“They are a well-respected and long-established family in the area. It was not the scenario we were envisaging when we were wondering where Sanjeev had gone to.”