Two teenage girls have been killed and three others were seriously injured in a single-vehicle road crash in Co Monaghan near Clones on Monday evening. It is understood all five were travelling in the same vehicle.
The two teenagers, aged 16 and 17, passengers in the car, were fatally injured during the crash. Their bodies have been removed from the scene to Monaghan General Hospital, where postmortems will take place on Tuesday.
An 18-year-old girl is in a critical condition and is being treated at Cavan General Hospital. A boy (18) is also receiving treatment at Cavan General for non-life-threatening injuries.
A man (60), the driver of the car, is in critical condition and is being treated at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
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The N54 is currently closed while Garda forensic collision investigators examine the scene. The road will remain closed overnight. Local diversions are in place, and the vehicle remains at the scene.
It is understood that some of the individuals, students at Largy College in Clones, were travelling to a secondary school debs ball when the incident happened at 6.45pm on Monday at Legnakelly.
Gardaí said they attended the scene of the crash on the N54 (Clones to Smithborough road) at Legnakelly just before 7pm.
Gardaí in Monaghan are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the crash to contact them. Any road users who may have camera footage and were travelling on the N54 between Clones and Smithborough on Monday between 6.15pm and 7.00pm are asked to make the footage available to gardaí.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Monaghan Garda station on 047 77200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.
The youth club in Clones opened on Monday evening for young people to gather.
Cavan-Monaghan Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy tweeted: “A moment of joy and celebration for these young people has turned into a lifetime of devastation for those who loved them. God help the families affected. The prayers of everyone in County Monaghan is with them.”
Monaghan county councillor Richard Truell said: “Thoughts and prayers have to go to the children’s families and their friends and it’s just tragic.
“The community in Clones area is deeply shocked and saddened and the local youth club in Clones town has opened to support the fellow students belonging to the school. The community will have to rally together to support everybody because this is going to take a toll on all the pupils belonging to Largy College and all the schools in Monaghan and the surrounding area.”
