Three men died and a fourth was seriously injured after a car crashed on the outskirts of Listowel, Co Kerry, early yesterday. Only the one vehicle was involved.
The dead men - two of whom are from the same parish, near Listowel - were pronounced dead at the scene. They were named yesterday as Mr James Culhane (30), from Leitrim Middle, Moyvane, Mr Patrick Galvin (34), of Leitrim East, Moyvane, and Mr Christy O'Connor (25), of Coolnalaught, Listowel.
The injured man, also from Leitrim Middle, Moyvane, Mr Nicholas Mulvihill (34), was taken from Tralee General Hospital to Cork University Hospital as his condition worsened.
He was described as "critical" last night.
The car, a semi-sports 1994 Toyota Celica, was bought by the driver, Mr O'Connor, only 10 days ago. Its windscreen, driver's wheel and engine were shattered. It appeared that at least some of the men were not wearing seat-belts. Gardaí and Garda public service vehicle inspectors were yesterday carrying out "an intensive investigation" of the cause of the accident due to its serious nature, Supt Frank O'Brien said.
In the past three years there have been four fatal accidents in the area, with none in 2001. There were eight fatalities last year in Co Kerry, a reduction on the previous year, he said.
"It was a good straight road. There was nothing there to indicate the potential for what happened," Supt O' Brien said.
The men had been socialising in the village of Moyvane and were on their way to Listowel shortly after midnight when their car hit a grass margin and veered diagonally onto the footpath and into a pillar and boundary wall on the opposite side of the road. The fire brigade unit cut through the wall to get at the injured from a garden.
The road rises slightly at the point of the crash, around 1½ miles from the town. Conditions were apparently good at the time. Yesterday the scene was strewn with flowers and messages.
The families of the dead began arriving from early morning and the scene became a point of pilgrimage all day long, as people stopped to say a prayer.
Gardaí, under Sgt Donal Ashe, had the difficult task of calling to the houses of the victims in the early morning to inform them of the incident.
Listowel county and town councillor, Mr Ned O' Sullivan, whose wall was struck by the car, immediately ran out of his house when he was alerted by a screech of brakes and a bang.
His wife, Ms Madeline O' Sullivan, called the gardaí and emergency services.
Mr O' Sullivan paid tribute to the fire brigade, the Garda, the ambulance and two local doctors who arrived within five minutes and "were outstanding" in their work into the early morning.
When he was a teacher in Tarbert comprehensive school, Mr O'Sullivan had taught both Mr Galvin and Mr Mulvihill. "It was the longest five minutes of my life," said the councillor, who remained with the dead and the injured until the services arrived. "I offered what comfort I could," he said.
The mayor of Listowel, Mr Denis Stack, who also lives nearby, was at the scene yesterday. He said: "On behalf of the people of Listowel I want to say we are shocked. Words cannot express the way we think today and the sympathy we feel for the families."
Supt O' Brien said the crash had cast a mantle of gloom over the area so soon in the new year.