The young woman killed in a car crash which claimed three lives in Co Louth early yesterday had celebrated her 18th birthday the previous day.
She was named as Marguerita McShane, Monymore, Carlingford, Co Louth. Her parents and three brothers were distraught after one of the worst accidents in the area in living memory.
Two men originally from Northern Ireland also died when the car they were in went out of control and smashed into a lorry five miles north of Dundalk on the main road to Belfast. One was identified last night as Seamus Donegan (47), Fathom Park, Newry, Co Down.
The third victim is not expected to be formally identified until this morning.
How the teenager came to be a passenger in the car is under investigation. A Garda spokesman said the car was so badly mangled that "it looked like the aftermath of a car bomb. It was absolutely horrific".
Ms McShane had been living between her family home and a flat in Dundalk, and recently started working in the Carlingford Arms pub in the village. Her family is well known in the community, where they run a haulage business. i in Louth put the crumpled wrecks of cars from other accidents on display on the roadside in an effort to alert drivers to the damage caused in such impacts. "This accident was the worst many of the gardai had ever seen," said a garda who was called to the accident scene at 2.15 a.m. Members of Dundalk Fire Service were also horrified by the scene that greeted them. A local photographer who has witnessed many car wrecks said the Toyota Carina in which the three died looked as if firemen had cut it into pieces but, in fact, they had not.
Initial Garda enquiries suggest the vehicle, which was registered in 1988, went out of control, hit a wall and then slammed underneath an oncoming lorry near Feede.
The car slid on its roof across the road into the path of the lorry, which was heading from Dublin to Belfast. The lorry driver was badly shocked but otherwise unharmed. It's believed the car was heading for Dundalk, possibly for the home of one of the deceased, who had moved there a short time ago.
Post-mortems were being carried out in the Louth County Hospital, Dundalk last night.
Ms Mary Mulholland, road safety officer of Louth County Council, said there had been a "substantial" number of accidents along the N1 throughout the county, with "quite a few" happening on the stretch between Dundalk and the Border.