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Home of the Mother order/PA Wire
World News

Church funeral for nun killed in Ecuador earthquake

by Hannah Tooley

Sister Clare Theresa Crockett, 33, died when a stairwell collapsed in the school she was working at in Playa Prieta.

More than 600 people died in Ecuador when a powerful earthquake hit the south American country on April 16th.

Home of the Mother order/PA Wire

On Sunday crews rescued a 72-year-old survivor almost two weeks after it struck.

Thousands of people were injured in the quake and the following tremours.

Sister Clare, from Derry city, was a nun in the Home of the Mother order and had been teaching children in a rural part of the country.

Her family thought the missionary was trying to lead girls out of the school after the earthquake hit when the stairwell collapsed.

Home of the Mother order/PA Wire

Her cousin, Emmit Doyle, speaking at the time said: "She had been teaching children that day, she had been teaching them how to play the guitar.

"She was trying to get them down the stairs and the staircase collapsed. We knew she was trapped but information has been slow to come out.

"She died as she lived, helping others."

He finished: "She was a superstar. Everybody loved her."

Her life will be celebrated at Long Tower Church in London Derry, Northern Ireland.

Hundreds are expected to attend.

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