Fatal crash victims subject of 'heartless' online comments

A friend of one of three teenagers killed in a two-vehicle head-on crash has spoken about the "heartless" social media comments he says have been shared about them.

Mohammed Jibrael Mukhtar, 18, died with two friends when the red Seat Leon car they were in crashed with a taxi in Bolton. Taxi driver Masrob Ali, 54, also died.

Bahar Telila, 24, Mukhtar's childhood friend, said he had since seen comments online expressing hatred towards the three teens who died.

"I knew Jibrael as a good kid, someone of a good character," Telila said. "It was a mistake. The negative comments don't describe the person I knew - rather than doing that, we should try educate parents and kids about driving safely."

Greater Manchester Police officers continue to investigate the cause of the crash on Wigan Road, which also killed Muhammad Danyaal Asghar Ali, 19, and Farhan Patel, 18, who were also in the red Seat Leon.

Five passengers from both vehicles also survived and remain in hospital, including a 29-year-old woman who has suffered potentially life-threatening injuries, police say.

Telila said he met Mukhtar when they were both young children, at a religious class in the Bolton community, where they both grew up.

"I knew Jibrael from a young age," he told BBC Manchester. "We used to attend a madrasa together in the community from quite a young age."

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He explained: "I knew him as an innocent kid, an innocent young kid.

"He was always smiling, he was happy and would play around.

"He was quite passionate," Telila recalled. "And he used to say things like, 'one day we'll all be married', and 'we'll come to each other's houses', stuff like that."

Telila added: "It's devastating knowing that he won't be able to get the chance to live those lives, those plans we made."

Telila attended a funeral for all three teenagers at Zakariyya Jaame Masjid Mosque in Bolton on Tuesday.

"There were hundreds of people there," he said. "It was devastating news when it happened because it's three young boys and somehow everyone has a connection to one of them - so the whole town was there.

"Everyone was emotional at the funeral, very tearful," he said. "It was like a reality check. It was eye-opening here to see, like, such young children being buried right around in front of your eyes - it was scary."

Telila said all he felt he could do for the families was to "be there for them".

He later posted a video from the prayers to his social media to encourage others to pray for all involved in the crash.

However, the responses he received were "heartless and unmerciful," he said.

"I feel absolutely terrible. People were trying to pass on comments which are not very merciful or compassionate, which I think is a heartless thing to do."

Telila, who has since disabled the comments section on his social media post, said he wanted to remind people about those who would be seeing and reading the comments.

"People should think about the family - that's who they are hurting.

"Put yourself in their shoes and if you don't have anything good to say then the best thing to do is to just stay silent," he said.

"I want to emphasise to the people on social media saying negative things about him - or all the other boys - that these boys had their own lives, they've pictured their futures, they had a plan that they wanted to do in life.

"They have made a mistake, it was not intentional. It doesn't describe all of who they were."

Telila said he thought the local community should get together to help provide driving safety education.

"We have to do some sort of a cause as a community - or even by the parents - you know, on safe driving and on the danger that it could have - not only your lives but other people's lives that that are involved as well.

"I would say it's something that's 100% a very important thing, a significant thing to be done."

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