Three people were killed and a number of others seriously injured in a multi-vehicle collision in Co Donegal yesterday evening.
Two women and one man were fatally injured in the crash at Ballymagroarty, Ballintra, on the N15 Ballyshannon-Donegal road. Initial reports indicated that a number of motorcycles and two cars collided on a straight stretch of road shortly after 6pm. The three people killed were believed to have been occupants of the cars.
A number of other people were taken to Sligo General Hospital, where they were being treated for what were described as serious injuries.
A Garda spokesman in Ballyshannon said that driving conditions at the time were good. "It [the accident] happened on a good stretch of straight two-lane road with a wide hard shoulder and conditions could not have been better . . . This is a major investigation and there will be traffic diversions in the area for the foreseeable future," he said.
Witnesses described the scene of the accident as horrific. One said: "It was a scene of total carnage. The emergency services were on the scene quickly and were faced with a scene of horror."
Gardaí have asked anyone who may have been travelling on the road at the time the collision occurred to contact Ballyshannon station at (071) 9851102.
There were two other fatalities over the weekend - in Galway and Mayo.
An 18-year-old man who was involved in a road accident in the early hours of Saturday died yesterday at University College Hospital, Galway. The accident occurred at about 4.30 am on Saturday on the Dublin Road at Renmore Park when the car, in which four other people were travelling, crashed into a wall.
The man, who was a rear-seat passenger in the car suffered head injuries and was put on life-support.
A Garda spokeswoman said that he died early yesterday afternoon.
In Co Mayo a 22-year-old man was fatally injured when the car in which he was travelling overturned. The accident happened at Caheravoostia, Hollymount, shortly after 7am yesterday. A second man was taken to Castlebar Hospital. Gardaí from Claremorris are investigating.
The weekend fatalities bring to 263 the number of people killed on Irish roads this year.