Two men were killed and two others have been seriously injured following a three-car collision on the outskirts of Cork city early this morning.
Two eastern European men lost their lives and two others are in a critical condition after the crash at Carr’s Hill on the road to Carrigaline at 6.30am.
The four were travelling along with a female passenger in a BMW that was in collision with another car on the city side of the graveyard at Carr’s Hill.
The BMW was heading towards Carrigaline at the time of the crash while the other car was travelling towards Cork city.
The second car, driven by a man in his 40s, ended up in a field while the driver of a third car which had been overtaken by the BMW hit a ditch trying to avoid the crash.
The driver of the BMW and a rear seat passenger were pronounced dead at the scene while two male seat passengers in the car were rushed to hospital.
They were both described as critical this morning while a female passenger from the BMW and the two other drivers were described as stable.
Firefighters from Carrigaline and Cork city had to use cutting equipment to free the dead and injured from the three vehicles.
Gardaí have notified the Garda Ombudsman of the collision because the driver of the car which hit the ditch to avoid the pile-up is a member of the gardaí.
Gardaí have closed off the road and diversions are in place to allow a Garda forensic crash investigator examine the scene.
The crash is the second fatal collision in the Carrigaline area this weekend and follows the death of a young man there yesterday.
The 21-year-old man from Mahon in Cork city was killed at 5.30am yesterday when the car he was driving went out of control and hit a pole at Bridgemount.