{"id":509669,"date":"2026-05-30T02:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T02:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/509669\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T02:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T02:21:12","slug":"it-just-feels-surreal-to-us-shock-in-clifden-at-death-of-masuma-sohrabi-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/509669\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It just feels surreal to us\u2019: Shock in Clifden at death of Masuma Sohrabi\u00a0 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Masuma Sohrabi, who was killed in Co Galway this week<\/a>, was a loving and warm person whose aim in life was to support her children, community members in Clifden have said.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old, originally from Tehran in Iran<\/a>, arrived in Ireland in 2024 and had been living in Clifden for about 18 months. <\/p>\n

The mother of two young children is understood to have left Iran to escape the country\u2019s repressive regime.<\/p>\n

Karen Mannion, chief executive of Forum Connemara, a local development organisation running integration and social outreach programmes, said the community was in shock. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese things don\u2019t happen here,\u201d she said. \u201cIt just feels surreal to us.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mannion said the forum, which helps new arrivals to integrate into the local community, had contacted other residents of Waterloo House, the emergency accommodation centre where Sohrabi lived, following Thursday\u2019s sad news. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very concerned as well about the residents in Waterloo House and what they\u2019ve been going through,\u201d she said. \u201cIn Waterloo House, they\u2019re a big family and we want to try to support them. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur hearts and our thoughts and prayers are with her family.\u201d <\/p>\n

Describing Sohrabi as a \u201cwonderful lady\u201d and a \u201cvalued member\u201d of the community, Mannion said the deceased volunteered at a gardening initiative run by the forum. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe sometimes brought her beautiful children,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

Staff at the community garden found Sohrabi to be \u201cincredibly committed to her children\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that her aim in life was supporting her beautiful children, and I think that\u2019s what came across alongside her warmth and motherly love.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sohrabi worked at a Co Galway hotel, which declined to comment when contacted. <\/p>\n

PK Joyce, manager of the Waterloo House, the International Protection Accommodation Service<\/a> (IPAS) centre where she lived with her children, described the deceased as a \u201cgreat woman\u201d who was well liked around the area. <\/p>\n

He said this sentiment was shared by the other residents of the property. The company that owns Waterloo House declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Sohrabi\u2019s children attend the local Scoil Mhuire primary school. In a statement on Thursday, the school said it was \u201can incredibly sad and difficult time\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have become aware of the sudden and tragic passing of a member of our school family. Our hearts go out to her children, her family and all those who loved her,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

Owners of local businesses told The Irish Times there was shock in the community at what happened and the circumstances surrounding Sohrabi\u2019s death. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter everything her children went through even coming to Ireland, just think what they are going through now,\u201d said one local who did not wish to be named.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Aid chief executive Sarah Benson said: \u201cWe are thinking today of Masuma Sohrabi, and her loved ones, colleagues and community, particularly her two young children.\u201d<\/p>\n

A vigil in her memory was to be held at Clifden Square on Friday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Masuma Sohrabi, who was killed in Co Galway this week, was a loving and warm person whose aim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,220399,18,13,14,1878,6,19,18929,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":["post-509669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-clifden","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-galway","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-iran","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116661143915777224","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}