A ceremony was held on Thursday afternoon at the Island Crematorium in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, for the American/Canadian couple killed in Monday’s freak pony and trap accident in Kerry.

The family of two US-based tourists killed in a freak pony and trap accident in Co Kerry on Monday is organizing the repatriation of the ashes to their home in Phoenix, Arizona, after a cremation ceremony in Cork on Thursday afternoon.

Joy Few, 64, and her Canadian-born partner Normand Larose, 62, were involved in a fatal accident in the Gap of Dunloe, Co Kerry, on Monday when their horse bolted, driving their carriage into an embankment and flinging the couple onto the rocky terrain below.

The driver of the pony and trap, a local man in his 40s, was able to jump from the trap but was taken to the hospital and treated for extreme shock. Gardaí (Irish police) hope to speak to him in the coming days.

Read more: Tributes paid to Arizona couple who died on vacation researching their Irish roots

Joy Few. Image: Facebook.
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Joy Few. Image: Facebook.

Few, a research supervisor at a hospital in Phoenix, and Larose, who worked in construction in Arizona, had traveled to Ireland with Few’s daughter Tonya Tier, her husband Bill Walthers, and their children Caitlin, 15, and Gavin, 8. The family followed in a pony and trap behind and fortunately did not see the accident itself but did come across the scene afterward.

Tier and her family have been supported by a Garda family liaison officer in the days since the accident and are said to be moved by the support of the community. Local pony men held a prayer service at Kate Kearney's Cottage just three miles from the scene of the accident while Mayor of Killarney Niall Kelleher opened a book of condolences for the family.

Normand Larose. Image: Facebook.
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Normand Larose. Image: Facebook.

The couple’s family is now believed to be organizing the repatriation of their ashes to Arizona where a funeral service will be held next week. On the completion of the postmortem exam in University Hospital Kerry, the family held the Cork cremation ceremony.

An investigation into the incident is currently being run from Killarney Garda Station with Gardaí looking for anybody who may have witnessed the accident or witnessed the reason why the horse may have bolted.

The horse pulling the trap was also grievously injured in the accident and was put down by a local vet at the scene.