Five teenage boys killed in a devastating collision on the M9 motorway in the early hours of Sunday morning have been named locally.
The teenagers, aged between 15 and 18, died when a BMW travelling in the wrong direction on the motorway collided head-on with a Hyundai near Moone, Co Kildare, shortly after 3am.
They were:
- Jeremy O’Brien, 18, from Carlow
- Joe Carthy, 15, from Athy, Kildare
- Jack Kennedy, 17, also from Athy
- Alex McCarthy, 17, from Carlow
- Kamil Pustkowski, 17, from Limerick
(Bottom, left-right) Alex McCarthy and Kamil Pustkowski.
Post-mortem examinations are due to take place as investigations into the circumstances surrounding the fatal crash continue.
Three women and a seven-year-old boy who were travelling in the Hyundai were taken to hospital following the collision.
Their injuries have been described as ranging from serious to critical.
The family were understood to have been travelling towards Dublin Airport at the time of the crash.
The first of the five teenagers to be named in a death notice on RIP.ie was Joe Carthy; it reads: ‘Deeply regretted by his loving parents William and Gemma, brothers John, Willie and Ned, sisters Margarita and Mary Doll, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and the members of St. Michael’s Boxing Club, Athy.’
St Michael’s Boxing Club in Athy also paid tribute to the teenager on social media, stating: ‘All of us here at St Michael’s were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Joe Carthy.
‘We want to offer our sincere condolences to Joe’s family and friends, and especially to his father Willie, a valued volunteer and member of the club.
‘Our thoughts are also with those who were seriously injured in the collision, and with their families at this very difficult time.’
Gardaí are continuing to investigate the circumstances leading up to the collision.
It is understood the teenagers were not being pursued by Gardaí at the moment of the fatal collision, although Gardaí had earlier been following the vehicle.
The crash has prompted renewed debate around dangerous driving, Garda pursuit policies and the influence of social media on reckless behaviour involving stolen vehicles.
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly described the incident as ‘horrific’. He said that, following a recent collision on the M50, it showed how dangerous driving on the wrong side of a motorway could be, adding that in some cases it was being done ‘for social media likes regardless of the potentially devastating impact it might have on innocent people and themselves’
