Two sisters were critically ill in hospital today, after a car accident which left their father and older sister dead.
James Joseph McGuigan, 30, and his daughter Lorna, eight, died instantly when the car he was driving hit a tree on the Ballyhill Road, on the outskirts of north Belfast yesterday.
His two other daughters, aged four and five, are in intensive care in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
Ardoyne Priest Father Aidan Troy said Mr McGuigan had been taking the girls to their grandmother's house in Lenadoon when the accident happened .
"The girls go to Holy Cross Primary School in Ardoyne and the father was at the nativity play on Wednesday and the youngest one was with him. The other two are at the school as well," he said.
"It is an unbelievable tragedy this close to Christmas and the two little girls were in intensive care last time I saw them, which is a tragedy.
"I just hope the other two get through this. It is a terrible experience for any family and I am going to the hospital to visit them this morning."
Mr McGuigan, originally from Lenadoon, had been living in Ardoyne in north Belfast with his partner and their children.
Lorna was believed to have been a front seat passenger, who died after her father lost control of the car and may have clipped a lorry.
Emergency crews had to cut the roof off the vehicle's remains. Police are appealing for information about the accident.