The impact of the car crash in which three young Dublin men died in the early hours of yesterday morning was so great it caused a power blackout at nearby houses.
Mr Peter O'Rourke (18), from Lenisk Lawn, The Donahies, Donaghmede and his friends Mr Anthony Murphy (18), Beverton Grove, Donabate and Mr Aston Ryan (21), Grangemore Crescent, Donaghmede, lost their lives when the Nissan Micra in which they were travelling went out of control and hit a reinforced lamppost at the junction of Dublin Road and Sutton Park, about a mile from Sutton Cross, at around 4 a.m.
Two other young men - Keith Bolger and Rory Conroy, also from Donaghmede - who were in the car at the time were being treated in Beaumont Hospital and the Mater Hospital last night.
Gardaí from Raheny, Howth and Clontarf rushed to the scene minutes after the collision. They were joined by at least four units of Dublin Fire Brigade and a number of ambulances.
One resident who spoke to The Irish Times yesterday described as "horrific" the scene she witnessed just minutes after the crash.
"I heard a very loud bang which woke me up. At first I didn't know what it was. Then I noticed the power had gone in the house. It was so dark I couldn't see where I was going, so I just stayed in the house.
"Within a few minutes I could see the lights of a garda car outside. I first thought it might be the ESB working on the power cut but when I went out, I could see there had been a crash. There were two people lying on the grass in front of the car. I thought for a minute they must have gotten out through the back door. But then they started to take the bodies away. They were dead, so they had obviously been thrown from the car somehow.
"The back seat driver-side door seemed to have taken a lot of the impact. The driver's door was open and the driver just seemed to be dazed. They were taking the other lad out of the car. It really was frightening. There were no other cars around at that time of the morning, I don't know what could have gone wrong."
Two of the dead men were believed to have been thrown from the car through the rear windscreen as it spun on impact.
By early yesterday afternoon relatives and friends of the dead men had been to the scene of the crash to pay their respects.
One young couple called and left flowers. They confirmed they were relatives of one of the deceased but declined to be interviewed.
The men were driving down the Dublin Road, which runs along the sea front from Sutton to Howth, travelling towards Sutton Cross, when the accident happened.
They were in a blue Nissan Micra. The maximum speed of the car is just under 100 m.p.h. Gardaí said it was not a stolen car.
Skid marks on the road at the scene suggested the vehicle may have been turning left when the car ran out of control.
The impact of the collision was evident from the great distance at which glass and other debris from the car was spread. Shards of glass lay on the road and in the grass up to 60 feet from the collision point.
A circle of yellow paint on a grass verge at the entrance to Sutton Park marked the spot where two of the dead were found by emergency workers. The grass was blood-stained around 40 feet from the impact spot.
The third dead man was taken from the car by emergency workers. He later died from his injuries at Beaumont Hospital.
Gardaí at Howth said they were satisfied the fatal crash did not involve any other vehicles.
They were appealing for people who may have seen the car before the crash to come forward.
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