The bodies of Portuguese football star Diogo Jota and his younger brother, André Silva, were received with deep sorrow late Thursday night as mourners gathered in Gondomar, northern Portugal.
Crowds lined the streets in silence outside the Capela de Ressurreição as the hearses carrying the brothers’ coffins arrived shortly after 11pm. Tears streamed down the faces of heartbroken supporters, still grappling with the loss of two young lives.
Jota, 28, and André, 25, tragically died early Thursday morning when the tyre of Jota’s Lamborghini Huracan reportedly burst while overtaking another vehicle on the A-52 motorway near Cernadilla, Spain.
The car veered off the road, rolled several times, and burst into flames, killing both brothers instantly. A Spanish government official, Angel Blanco, confirmed that emergency services were unable to save them. The crash also sparked a fire in surrounding vegetation, prompting a rapid response from local firefighters.
It remains unclear which brother was driving the supercar at the time of the fatal accident.
According to the local parish priest, Father José Macedo, the wake began at 8am Friday at the chapel, with a funeral service scheduled for 10am Saturday at the Igreja Matriz, the neighbouring Catholic church.
“We’re available to celebrate [their lives] with everyone and to share the pain and the Christian hope,” said Father Macedo.
The bodies were earlier transferred from a funeral home in Puebla de Sanabria, Spain. Jota’s agent, Jorge Mendes, was seen escorting the family into the home and comforting the footballer’s grieving mother.
“We lost two great people. Diogo is an example as a person, husband, son, professional. I still can’t believe it. It’s very difficult,” Mendes said, visibly emotional.
