GARDAÍ WERE last night trying to establish the identity of one of the two young men killed in a double fatality involving an off-duty garda driving on the Limerick to Cork motorway.
The victims were in the middle of the dual carriageway when they were struck by an Opel Astra travelling on the overtaking lane of the M20.
It is understood that the two men who died had been involved in an altercation on the road minutes before the collision occurred.
The incident took place shortly before midnight on Wednesday night on the southbound lane of the motorway, just before the junction three turn-off for Raheen.
A female garda was also travelling in the privately owned Opel Astra at the time of the collision.
Both gardaí had just come off duty from Henry Street Garda station in Limerick where they are stationed as uniformed members of the force.
One of the victims was named locally last night as Gavin O’Callaghan (20), from Knocknaheeny in Cork.
His identity was established from papers he was carrying.
The second victim was not carrying any form of identification but it is believed he may also be in his 20s and from the Cork region.
The off-duty gardaí involved in the crash were said to be in a distressed state when colleagues from the emergency services arrived at the scene.
They suffered shock but were not hospitalised.
The Garda Ombudsman Commission is leading the inquiry and investigators are anxious to speak to the occupants of a car that fled the scene, and in which the victims had been travelling earlier that night.
This car was parked on the hard shoulder of the motorway at the time of the collision.
There were a number of people inside, including a female occupant, and investigators have appealed to these witnesses to make contact with gardaí.
It is understood the female in the car shouted something at one of the off-duty gardaí after the collision that indicated she knew one of the deceased.
Postmortems on the victims, who were pronounced dead at the scene, took place last night at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.
Mr O’Callaghan’s parents travelled to Limerick from Cork and were met by investigators from the Garda Ombudsman’s Commission.
In a statement issued yesterday, a spokesman for the commission asked anyone who may be of assistance to call 1890-600800.
The statement said the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission was contacted early yesterday morning and received a referral under section 102 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005.
“The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission has had a team in Limerick through the night and today in response to the referral,” the spokesman added.