Gardaí are investigating a crash in Co Tipperary yesterday evening in which two teenagers were killed and two others seriously injured.
Natalie Horan and Michael Brennan, both aged 13, 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.
The teenagers were part of a group which was being driven home from after hours study in the Scoil Ruain vocational school in Killenaule in what is understood to be a car-pooling arrangement.
Two other children in the car, a boy and a girl, were taken to St Joseph's Hospital in Clonmel with minor injuries. They are said to be in a stable condition.
The driver of the vehicle escaped serious injury.
The local parish priest, Fr John McGrath, said the deaths were devastating for the small rural area.
"We buried a 92-year-old yesterday who lived a full life, a neighbour of those two children. And by evening, two 13-year olds were dead, which is mind-boggling," he said.
Fr McGrath was called to the scene last night, where he met the shocked families of the dead teenagers. "They were all at the scene. It was harrowing for them. An accident scene is gruesome, I call it a violence. The human body isn't built for that."
Fr McGrath said the driver of the car was an ex-Army man who was extremely careful. "The sad publicity at the moment is that every accident is loony driving. It wouldn't be the case in this situation, I can tell you."