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13th July 2024
10:27am BST
A mother and her teenage son from Mayo who reportedly died in a road crash in Pakistan have been named locally as Noreen Shafiq and Umar Shafiq.
The Shafiq family has lived in the town of Ballinrobe for 15 years and were on holidays in the South Asian country when the collision occurred.
According to multiple reports, Noreen's husband Shafique and two other members of the family were injured in the car crash and were hospitalised.
Umar played as a goalkeeper for Ballinrobe Town FC from its under-10s team all the way to its senior team.
In a series of tributes, the club described the teenager "as a lovely gentleman who always had a positive outlook on things" and as someone who was "always so enthusiastic, upbeat and an absolute pleasure to be around".
Ballinrobe Town FC also paid tribute to his mother, describing Noreen as "wonderful".
You can read the club's statement in full right here:
"It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of our club member Umar Shafiq and his mother Noreen in a tragic accident while on a family holiday in Pakistan. We are absolutely heartbroken for the entire Shafiq family and friends as well as all Umar's teammates and coaches who held Umar in such high regard.
"Not only was Umar an outstanding goalkeeper who represented the club from U10s all the way to the senior team but he also represented Mayo at various levels. While Umar was still on the under 18 squad, he had become an important member of our senior squads and was regularly in goals for our Junior B team as well as being a part of our Super League team making his debut earlier this season away to Conn Rangers.
"All Umar's teammates many of whom came through the underage section of the club with Umar are devastated with this sudden and tragic loss of their friend and we ask the community also rally round to support them too.
"Everybody who knew Umar both within our club, the Ballinrobe community and the wider Mayo Football family as evidenced by the massive numbers of messages of sympathy we have received knew Umar as a lovely young gentleman who always had a positive outlook on things. We will miss our great friend who was always so enthusiastic, upbeat and an absolute pleasure to be around. Umar, we will never forget you.
"The club along with Ballinrobe Community School are actively working with the family to look at how we as a community can pay our respects in due course and will share information as and when we can. We would ask everybody to respect the privacy of the Shafiq family at such a difficult time."
In a follow-up post, the club posted images of Umar and his team mates with the caption: "We'll miss you dear friend, we wont forget you.
"Along with this great community we stand with your family as they come to terms with losing you and your wonderful mother Noreen."
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