A young couple preparing to emigrate to Australia became the latest victims of Ireland's treacherous roads yesterday.
A Garda investigation into the accident is under way, but it appears the 21-year-old woman and her 23-year-old boyfriend died instantly when their car careered into the path of an oncoming truck after being struck from behind by another truck.
The accident happened four miles north of Drogheda on the main Dublin-Belfast road; it was closed and major traffic diversions put in place.
The couple were only 150 yards from the woman's family home and were waiting to turn on to the road leading to the house at 12.30 p.m. when the accident happened.
Their deaths brought to 356 the number of people killed on the State's roads so far this year.
The number who have died in the Louth/Meath Garda division so far this year was put at 50.
A total of four vehicles - two articulated trucks, a van and a car - were involved in the crash, and emergency personnel said it was a miracle there were not more casualties given the heavy traffic normally on the road.
The collision involving the first articulated truck, which had a Northern Ireland registration, happened at the top of Tullyesker Hill, where two northbound lanes of traffic merge.
The woman was driving a green Daihatsu Charade northwards out of Drogheda towards her home at Tullyesker.
Her boyfriend was the only passenger.
She had stopped and was preparing to turn right when the car was hit from behind.
The impact sent it into the path of the second articulated truck, which was travelling southwards towards Drogheda.
The car was trapped under the cab of the lorry and was dragged about 250 yards before the truck came to a stop.
A diesel tank of the truck and the petrol tank of the car appear to have caught fire and the shell of the cab and car were all that remained.
After the first truck struck the car it collided with a transit van travelling southwards before going down a 20-foot embankment on the southbound carriageway.
The drivers of both trucks and of the transit van, as well as a passenger in the first truck, received only minor injuries.
An hour after the crash the remains of the two victims were still trapped in the burnt-out car.
Fire brigade personnel from Drogheda and Dunleer brought the blaze under control.
They also ensured that a second diesel tank on the truck did not explode.
Three explosions were heard in all, the third caused by tyres exploding in the fire.
Six ambulances attended the scene, and three of the injured were taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital for treatment of seat-belt injuries.
Garda Insp Gerry O'Brien visited the scene and said the deaths brought to six the number of people killed on the roads in the Louth/Meath division in the previous five days.
"This is another great sadness for the families of the two young people," he said.