Two teenagers were killed in a single-car crash in Co Tipperary last night.
A 14-year-old boy and a 13- year-old girl died after the car in which they were passengers went out of control at about 6.15pm on the Ballingarry road, two miles from Mullinahone.
Two other children in the car were taken to St Joseph's Hospital in Clonmel with minor injuries. The driver of the vehicle escaped injury.
The children, who are all from the Mullinahone area, were being driven home from Scoil Ruain in Killenaule after staying on for an after-school study session yesterday afternoon.
The driver, a relative of one of the children, was not seriously injured, but local sources said he was in "extreme shock" last night.
It is believed the driver lost control and the car went into a deep ditch on the Ballingarry road and turned on its side.
A local man, Richard Sheehan, said there had been a number of crashes in the area in recent years. "It's a very bad, twisted stretch of road with a deep ditch along the side of it. Cars have been known to slip into the dyke," he said.
Weather conditions in the area were good and the road surface was dry, he added.
The scene of the collision was sealed off and gardaí remained at the scene last night.
Meanwhile, there were no serious injuries after a single-vehicle crash on the M50 in Dublin last night.
The crash happened between the Naas and Lucan exits on the northbound lanes just before 9pm. Gardaí, three units of Dublin Fire Brigade and two ambulances were called to the scene and there was severe traffic disruption for more than an hour afterwards.