Ballycastle crash tragedy: Pray for my daughter Hannah’s recovery, says dad at her bedside

Ryan Smyth was speaking after a two-vehicle collision on the Whitepark Road in Ballycastle killed his wife Clare and daughter Bethany, three, on Tuesday just before 5pm.

Speaking from the hospital bedside of his surviving daughter Hannah, five, Mr Smyth asked his family minister to thank the emergency services who helped his family – and those who have already been praying for his daughter’s recovery.

Rev John Stanbridge of Ballycastle and Croaghmore Presbyterian Church said that what had happened was “a tragic and freak accident that has changed a family forever”.

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

He also expressed “his deep appreciation” to all the emergency services who attended the scene, to the doctors and nurses in the Causeway Hospital and the surgical team in the Royal.

Rev Stanbridge said the family were “much loved members of our church”.

The couple had met when Ryan was 21 and Clare was 17 and were married on her 21st birthday, 15 years ago.

The Smyths are substantial dairy farmers who have worked the land in the area for generations. Last night they were hailed as a highly respected family by public representatives from across the political spectrum.

Rev Stanbridge said his colleague Rev Alan Buick, of Dunluce Presbyterian, had also contacted him to offer condolences and sympathy.

“Clare was a much loved and esteemed leader and officer of 357 Dunluce Presbyterian Girls Brigade for the past 15 years, and she will be sadly missed by all the girls and leaders,” Rev Stanbridge added.

Prayer requests for Hannah and her family, and for the driver of the tractor and his family too, went viral across NI on Tuesday evening.

North Antrim MP Ian Paisley said the deaths were an “indescribable loss” and that grieving would be particularly difficult under social distancing in a rural community where everyone would want to help.

North Antrim MLA Jim Allister added that the accident has “cast a deep pall of sorrow over the entire area”.

Sinn Fein councillor Cara McShane said the tragedy had “left people reeling” while SDLP councillor Margaret Anne McKillop said the community was “devastated”. And independent councillor Padraig McShane said the Smyths were “a highly respected and much loved family”.

On social media a friend of Mrs Smyth described her as “a lovely young woman who always had a smile on her face,” adding of the mother and her daughter, Bethany: “Rest easy angels”.