The sole survivor of the car crash near Buncrana in Co Donegal on Thursday night, in which three teenagers were killed, was the only one in the car who was wearing a seat-belt when the vehicle struck a bridge and plunged 10 feet into a field.
Those who died were Shane Cuffe (18), Crana View, Buncrana, who was the driver of the silver Vauxhall Astra car, Owen Doherty (18), Cloncool Park, Buncrana and Aine O'Leary, (16), Selskor Rise, Townpark, Skerries, Co Dublin.
The two young men who died worked together as concrete floor layers. Ms O'Leary was a niece of Buncrana Garda sergeant John O'Keeffe. She was staying with Sgt O'Keeffe and his wife Marie.
Their daughter, Liz-Anne (17), sustained two broken legs, a broken arm and a dislocated pelvis. Her cousin, Aine, was in Buncrana to buy a dress for her school graduation dance and was to have returned home to Skerries yesterday.
The deaths brought to 23 the number of people killed on the roads in Co Donegal so far this year, the highest of any county in Ireland.
The accident occurred near Ballymagan on the road between the Illies and Buncrana, five miles from the town. It is believed that the car Mr Cuffe was driving towards Buncrana, and which he had bought only two weeks ago, struck a parapet on a narrow bridge. The car careered off the road into a hedgerow, before coming to rest in a field 10 feet below the road.
Such was the force of the collision that the parapet wall partially collapsed and the car disintegrated on impact, scattering parts over a 400 square metre area.
The crash was reported by a woman driving in the opposite direction.
She lost control of her car when it struck debris from the parapet and she crashed into a hedgerow several yards from the bridge. She escaped injury and immediately alerted the emergency services.
The bodies of the three victims were thrown from the car and the seriously injured survivor was freed from the wreckage by the emergency services.
Supt Vincent O'Brien, investigating the accident, said: "In my entire career, this is one of the worst accidents I have ever had to attend. The sight of three young bodies in a field with their families looking on in a silence only broken by crying is something I will never forget."
"I also spent time in Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry with young Liz-Anne and the O'Keeffe family.
"Her survival is miraculous when you see what was left of the car, but the fact that she was wearing a seat-belt saved her young life and sends out a message to us all."