Young Irish nun among victims of Ecuador earthquake

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A young Irish nun, together five novices, lost their lives in the earthquake that devastated Ecuador on Saturday. Sister Clare Theresa Crockett, 33, died when a stairwell collapsed in the school she was working at in Playa Prieta.

Sister Clare, who taught music, was trying to lead children to safety when the four storey building they were in collapsed on top of them. Her body was found under rubble on Monday by search and rescue teams.

Sister Clare's family described her as a "superstar." In a statement, they said: "On Sunday 17th April, we lost our daughter, sister and aunt Sister Clare Theresa Crockett as a result of the earthquake in Ecuador. She was situated in a school in Playa Prieta with the Home of the Mother Order. At this difficult time we would ask for privacy."

Friend and fellow Home of the Mother Order member Sister Cristin Camero said: "She wrote many songs and saw that as a way to bring others to God, to help them have an encounter with the Lord. "I will remember her jokes - she was very funny. She would have the whole room laughing."

The five novices who died here: Jazmina, María Augusta, Maira, Valeria and Catalina. Five members of the order: Sister Estela Morales, Sister Merly, Sister Thérèse Ryan, and two Ecuadoria postulants: Guadalupe y Mercedes were injured but survived. Their school and house has been completely destroyed.

The Bishops Conference of Ecuador said in a statement: "In the face of the earthquake, the Bishops of Ecuador want to offer a word of faith in the Lord to the Ecuadorian people.. Our thoughts go especially to our brothers and sisters in the provinces of Manabi and Esmeraldas, who seem so far to be the most affected, and we invite everyone to participate in the national collection for the victims, in order to help them in their most urgent needs."

Today, (Monday) the death toll had reached 272, with search and rescue operations continuing and a state of emergency declared. Thousands more have been injured.

Read more about the Home of the Mother order here: www.hogardelamadre.org/en/

Source: Fides/BCE/Home of the Mother order