Three young men were killed instantly yesterday evening in a head-on crash between two vehicles on the outskirts of Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, writes Tom Shiel in Castlebar.
The dead men, all in their 20s and two of them first cousins, were occupants of a silver Mitsubishi Lancer car (travelling towards Ballinrobe) which collided with an Isuzu truck at about 6.20pm near the entrance to the local race course on the Castlebar Road, about a mile from the town.
The driver of the van escaped injury but three male passengers were taken by ambulance to Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar where they were treated for their injuries which gardaí said last night were not life threatening.
Gardaí would not disclose the names of the victims but said they were in contact with their families. All are believed to have been living locally in the Ballinrobe area.
It is understood the car involved was travelling from the Castlebar direction and the van was coming from Ballinrobe when the crash occurred in what were described locally as "reasonable weather conditions" following earlier showers. The road at the point where the crash occurred is straight.
One of the first on the scene was the parish priest of Ballinrobe, Mgr Tom Shannon, who was called to administer the last rites. Mgr Shannon later described the scenes as "heart rending" and he said his thoughts were with the families and relatives of the victims.
Garda Supt Pádraig O'Toole spoke to reporters at the scene last night and described the incident as a "terrible tragedy".
He said it was a shocking night for any community to lose three young people.
The three deaths bring to 318 the number of people who have died on Irish roads this year.