DERRY JOURNAL Editorial: An unimaginable and unbearable loss

The loss of Joseph Sebastian and Reuven Simon in a tragic drowning accident at Enagh Lough on Monday evening has visited their families and friends with an unfathomable grief that can hardly be borne.
The funeral of Reuven Simon and Joseph Sebastian will take place this morning.The funeral of Reuven Simon and Joseph Sebastian will take place this morning.
The funeral of Reuven Simon and Joseph Sebastian will take place this morning.

It is something from which they can never recover. Words are inadequate to convey the acute cruelty of what has happened, or to give expression to the raw and visceral pain that is now wracking Joseph’s and Reuven’s families, as well as the wider Kerala community in Derry, as they prepare to lay the boys to rest today.

On Monday two exemplary 16 year olds jumped on their bikes to enjoy the last days of summer at beautiful Enagh but never returned. Two fine teenagers who had their whole lives ahead of them. Who knows what they might have gone on to achieve? No one can provide any explanation for it, or make any sense of the devastating pointlessness of it all.

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Funeral Mass of Joseph Sebastian and Reuven Simon to be conducted by Father Clem...
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All our thoughts, prayers and condolences today go out to those families, their friends, their school mates and the Kerala community in the city as they try somehow to come to terms with what has happened.

As their families say goodbye at St. Mary’s in Ardmore today it can only be hoped that they can find some comfort in the sense that the entire city is thinking of them and standing with them.

All week there has been a palpable sense of loss, and an outpouring of sympathy and solidarity with the families, from people who may never have known Joseph and Reuven on a personal level.

Indeed the senseless tragedy has touched hearts countrywide with messages of condolence making their way to the city from far afield. The Kerala community is tightknit and resilient but it has been rocked this week by an unimaginable tragedy. Derry stands with them.

RIP Joseph and Reuven. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha.