Whole community turns out for funeral of 16-year-old boy killed in Sheffield crash

Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Al Yazidi was struck by a car as he walked along Staniforth Road in the Darnall area of the city at just after 4.50pm on Wednesday last week (June 4).

The 16-year-old had only arrived in England a few weeks prior to the crash, after leaving his war-torn home in Yemen.

His funeral started today (June 12) at the Sheffield Grand Mosque, which is located on ‏Grimesthorpe Road in the Grimesthorpe area of the city.

At 1.30pm, the mosque hosted the Janazah prayer, a traditional Muslim funeral prayer, before the burial that will take place ‏Shiregreen Cemetery.

Two memorial gatherings - referred to as Azza - will take place at the Yafa Centre in Upperthorpe between 5.30pm and 8.30pm both today and tomorrow (June 13).

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Councillor Qais Al-Ahdal attended and shared his condolences, before discussing actions that can be taken to help avoid further tragedy in future.

He told The Star: “It’s devastating, it’s worrying as well - the community got together straight away and we are supporting the family even now at the funeral service.

“Obviously we’re all scared, I myself walk on that road frequently, we have a lot of children that walk on that road to the shops and the mosque.

“The local community has been calling the council for a few years now to introduce traffic calming measures - I understand the council is doing an amazing job with their assessments, but sometimes local knowledge can spot things that city-wide assessments might miss.

“I’ll use my position to try and raise that voice inside the council.”