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Hundreds of people have rallied around the family of Alan Drennan who died in Ibiza at the weekend, to help pay for his funeral.

Two online fundraising pages were set up by friends of the 21-year-old, with the hope of meeting the costs of bringing his remains home to Newtownabbey and his funeral.

Alan died in his hotel room less than 24 hours after landing in Ibiza with 10 friends from Northern Ireland.

It is understood the insurance company Alan used for his holiday cover is refusing to pay out for the family's expenses.

His friend, Mellissa Anderson, planned to raise £5,000 and pal, Peter Neish, wanted to raise £1,000 for the family to use as they wished.

And in less than 24 hours both pages exceeded their targets by 60%.

More than 800 people made pledges of between £10 and £30 and tonight the total raised was more than £11,500. Many donations are from friends, others from strangers who have been touched by his story.

Both pages are due to be on line for a month, and Mellissa said: "Just to let everyone know that the just giving page will be opened for the full 30 days.

"I've spoken to Alan's mummy and daddy and they want it left open. Anybody that still needs to donate don't worry you have right up until the end of the month and the account will close automatically.

"The page was set up to help Verona and Alan as much as possible throughout this nightmare.

"It's basically to cover any costs for the funeral and if any money is left over it will be given to the charity which is helping bring Alan home.

"If everyone could put anything into it, it would help so much and just show how much support they have.

"I can't even describe how thankful I am to every single person who has donated.

"It really is going to make a difference but please keep sharing and posting so we can keep it going for people that have missed it. Thank you again everyone."

Peter who worked as a bouncer with Alan in Belfast, said: "It's amazing. People are so generous and this is a really amazing cause."

The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust has stepped in to help the Drennan family in their worst moment.

The Trust alleviates the financial hardship of bereaved families who need to bring home the body of a loved one who has died abroad in sudden or tragic circumstances.

It was set up in 2013 after the death in a hit and run incident in New York of Kevin Bell from Newry, Co Down.

And to date more than 76 families have been helped by his father, Colin, who runs the trust.

Colin, a retired teacher, said: "The fund was started by the people of Newry to bring Kevin home. The money left over have been used to help people who were in the same situation as us, who lost their loved ones abroad, to take some of the stress away for them.

"It is hard but this is Kevin's legacy. We have been here, been right where these families are and we understand what they're going through.

"We rely 100% on donations to help people in need and we're very grateful to Mellissa and Peter who set up the fund raising pages to help out.

"Sadly the work we do will never stop because people travel. It's a fact of life and so any and all donations are vital to help families when these very tough circumstances happen."

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