(ANS - El Obeid) - Fr Charbel Daoura, SDB, Vice-Rector and Bursar of the Salesian House in El Obeid, Sudan, died in a car accident yesterday 23 June. Fr Daoura was aged sixty-one, a native of Syria and a member of the Province of the Middle East. For the past year he had been working in the Salesian Vocational Training Centre in El Obeid.

Fr Daoura did not drive and he had gone to a nearby Catholic Mission with one of our teachers Mr Faadhil for a meeting of Catechists. The information we have received from El Obeid is that there was a head-on collision with an oncoming bus and Fr Daoura passed away immediately as a result of the heavy impact. The driver is recovering from serious injuries in the El Obeid Civil Hospital.

Relatives of Fr Daoura have already been informed and also Fr Munir El Rai, Provincial of the Middle East.  Meanwhile, Salesian Brother Andrea Comino is completing various formalities with the hospital, while Fr Nagib Shennekji, a Syrian Salesian based in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, has contacted the Syrian embassy to organize the transport of the body.

“Let us remember to pray for this great Son of Don Bosco. He was a very cordial, simple, hard working man and one with a very captivating demeanour, easy to get along with,” says Fr Poobalarayen Ferrington, Provincial Delegate in Sudan. “He was obliging to everyone and willing to give every little help that was asked from him. Many of us have met him while he visited South Sudan. May his soul rest in Peace! His love for Vocation Promotion, Training Catechists, accompaniment of the young people in our Parish and VTC were some of his great strengths and he enjoyed every bit of it. May God receive him in his abode and grant him eternal peace”.

Published 24/06/2015