Funeral service takes place for Co Donegal drowning victim

A funeral service is under way for a teenager who drowned in Co Donegal.

Emmanuel Familola, 16, originally from Nigeria, and Matt Sibanda, 18, originally from Zimbabwe, both died in the incident last weekend.

They had been playing football on Saturday when they went into the sea after a ball and got into difficulty.

Matt’s body was recovered from Lough Swilly on Saturday evening while Emmanuel was rescued and taken to Letterkenny University Hospital, but died in the early hours of Sunday.

A vigil was held in their memory in Buncrana on Sunday evening and another vigil was held on Monday evening in Londonderry.

Both teenagers had been living with their families in separate international protection centres in Buncrana.

Schoolchildren from the Co Donegal town formed a guard of honour at St Mary’s Oratory in the town on Saturday morning ahead of the funeral service for Emmanuel.

Speaking ahead of the service, Parish Priest Father Francis Bradley said it was a profoundly sad day.

“This day last week, life changed for so many people unspeakably in just a few moments when tragedy struck again at Lough Swilly,” he said.

“Emmanuel was able way beyond his years because of all that he had experienced.

“He didn’t allow the harsh things that he had seen to shape him, instead he saw those as opportunities to enable him and others to move on and to move up in the world.”

The funeral mass for Matt will be held next week.