Tributes to two young adults killed in Donegal road crash

Tributes were paid yesterday to the two young people who died in a car crash in Donegal at the weekend.

All four rear passengers were thrown from a blue Peugeot 306 car when it hit a wall and then a lamp-post at Eastend in the seaside village of Bundoran at 3.25am. Two people were killed and three were seriously injured.

Last night, the two who died were named locally as Shiva Devine, who was in her 20s, and lived in Beleek but was originally from Donegal, and Conor McAleer from Ederney in Co Fermanagh. A seriously injured woman has been transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, while two others remain at Sligo University Hospital.

All four rear-seat passengers were found lying side-by-side at the scene.

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A man in his 20s was released from custody last night having been the only occupant of the car who did not require hospitalisation.

Postmortems on the two deceased are due to be carried out on Monday at the mortuary in Sligo University Hospital.

Appeal

Gardaí have said an incident room has been established at Ballyshannon Garda Station and investigating officers are liaising with the PSNI as part of their enquiries. They have appealed for witnesses.

Local man Frankie O'Gorman said the crash was not the first at the location.

He said a hotel which once stood at the location had been demolished and he was surprised the road was not widened.

“There have been a lot of accidents at this location but this is undoubtedly the worst.

“It’s quite a narrow road and it’s a dangerous corner so I had thought it would have been widened a long time ago. It’s so tragic and the thoughts and prayers of everyone in our community are with those who were involved,” he said.

Fiachra Boyle, who is from Belfast but has a holiday home in the area, said he was very saddened to hear the news.

“When I heard two young people had died I was speechless,” he said.“I walked along this street last night at about 11pm. It was peaceful but it was raining and there was very few people about.”

Downpours

Locals pointed to the heavy downpours overnight and how that may have affected the road conditions.

Parish priest Fr Ray Munster, of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, said prayers for those killed and injured in the crash at masses in the town.

Friends of Mr McAleer and Ms Devine paid tribute to him last night on Facebook.

A friend said the whole village of Pettigo was in deep shock at the death of the young man who had been a student at the South West College in Enniskillen.

“He was full of fun and full of life and it is just so terrible to think that we won’t see him anymore.

“He loved tractors and farming and the country life and had great time for people. Conall will be badly missed.”

A friend of Ms Devine’s said “my thoughts are with your wee fella, family and friends . . . sleep tight beautiful, you will be sadly missed”.