Strep A: Balloons released into the sky at the funeral of a five-year-old girl in Belfast

 

    photo:PA Wire/PA Images 

As a sizable throng gathered in Belfast for the funeral of a five-year-old child who passed away after acquiring Strep A, balloons were thrown into the sky.

Many mourners paid their respects to Stella-Lily McCorkindale while sporting rainbow-colored ties.

Before the burial on Wednesday afternoon, floral tributes, including ones shaped like an angel and a teddy bear, were left in front of her grandmother's house in the city's north.

After a funeral gathering, more than a hundred people gathered in front of Stella-pink Lily's casket, which was decorated with stars and rainbows.

Before the release of the colored balloons, Taylor Swift's song Shake it Off was played.

    image:(Niall Carson/PA)

After the coffin was loaded, a cortege slowly walked to the adjoining Shankill Road behind a horse-drawn carriage.

Mourners continued their journey from there to the Roselawn crematorium in the east of the city.

Stella-Lily attended Black Mountain Primary School in P2.

She passed away last week due to a condition brought on by the Strep A bacterial infection.

In the last several months, the UK has received confirmation of the deaths of 16 kids who had Strep A.

Her school last week referred to Stella-passing Lily's as a "tragic loss."

“Stella-Lily was a very bright and talented little girl, and very popular with both staff and children, and will be greatly missed by everyone at school,” the school said in a statement.