Eilidh arrives home
4 June 2017
The body of the Barra teenager who was killed in the Manchester terror attack has arrived home.
Eilidh MacLeod will be the first of the 22 people killed in the atrocity to be buried.
The chartered Loganair plane carrying Eilidh from Manchester swept across the Traigh Mhòr beach, gently landing a short distance from the airport terminal building.
Father John Paul MacKinnon gave a blessing when the coffin on -
Led by a bagpiper, male relatives carried the casket to a waiting hearse.
A small crowd of the Barra community gathered at the airport fence observed in solemn silence as the hearse slowly drove off the beach to their home in Castlebay.
Eilidh's parents, Roddy and Marion, and her sisters followed in a black car.
On Monday morning Eilidh will be carried to the nearby church, Our Lady, Star of the Sea, in Castlebay, for a Requiem Mass.
Two weeks ago today, an excited Eilidh and her friend Laura Macintyre left the island for the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.
As the US singer performed her final song Eilidh texted her mum to come and collect them.
Suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated his backpack explosive device just as the two
girls -
Fourteen-
Laura, 15, survived but has suffered horrific injuries. She was sedated for days but taken off a ventilator and was able to recognise her family last week.
The funeral service commences at 11.15am.
Eilidh is to be buried on the neighbouring island of Vatersay where she spent most of her life. The family moved to Castlebay in 2015.
The Macleod family said they would like just family flowers at the church and at the cemetery.
They requested that anybody who wishes to could instead “make a donation to Cobhair Bharraigh which was Eilidh’s favourite charity.”
Andrew Milligan/ Press Association
Andrew Milligan/ Press Association
Andrew Milligan/ Press Association
Andrew Milligan/ PA
Andrew Milligan/ Press Association
Roddy and Marion Macleod