Two men and teenage boy die on the roads

PADDY CLANCY and LORNA SIGGINS

GARDAÍ WERE last night investigating a collision in which two men died in Co Donegal. Separately, gardaí in Galway are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a teenager in a single-vehicle crash in Connemara.

The dead men in the head-on collision at Corcam, Killygordon, were both Lithuanian, aged 31 and 39 respectively. They were travelling on the N15 when in collision with another vehicle north of Stranorlar near the village of Killygordon. They were pronounced dead at the scene at about 3.45pm.

A man and a woman in the other car were taken to Letterkenny General Hospital with injuries. They were named locally as Laurence and Bernadette Slowey, in their 50s. Mr Slowey, a retired council employee, is a brother of Donegal county councillor Terence Slowey. The man was in stable condition while his wife was critical in Letterkenny hospital.

The road linking Ballybofey and Lifford was closed pending a full examination by gardaí. It was expected to remain closed until about noon today. The collision occurred at the end of a wide straight and on the first of a series of bends on a 5km stretch of road leading to Killygordon. It was a bright afternoon and the road surface is good, but water was still lying on it after earlier heavy rain.

Insp Denis Joyce, who is heading the Garda investigation, said they were trying to establish the identities of the dead men.

Gardaí investigating the crash in Galway said a 16-year-old boy was a passenger in a car which left the road and overturned at Crimnagh, between Leitir Móir and Leitir Mealláin, at about 10.30pm on Sunday. He was named locally as Michael Joyce from Leitir Mealláin.

The 17-year-old driver of the 1999-registered Citroen Xsara was taken to Galway University Hospital, where his condition was described as stable as his injuries were not life-threatening.

It is understood that both teenagers had attended the funeral earlier on Sunday of Teresa Molloy at Leitir Móir parish church. Ms Molloy was one of the four NUI Galway students who died in a road collision on the Galway-Mayo border a week ago.

The young man’s death brings to six the number of fatalities on Galway roads in a five-day period.

Gardaí in Salthill have appealed for witnesses and can be contacted on (091) 514 720, at the Garda confidential phone line 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.