The death toll on Irish roads continued to mount last night when three teenagers were killed in a two-car collision in Co Limerick.
Two men and a woman were killed in the crash which happened on a narrow stretch of road near the village of Hospital on the Caherconlish road shortly before 7 p.m.
The victims were named in Bruff, Co Limerick, as Mr James Ryan, Mr Seamus Keogh and Ms Naomi Mulcahy. They were believed to be in their late teens and from the area.
Firefighters had to use cutting equipment to remove the dead, who were all in a Toyota Starlet.
It was in collision with a Toyota Avensis travelling in the opposite direction.
People at the scene said it appeared that the Starlet had been cut in two on impact.
The driver of the Avensis - a middle-aged man - was taken by ambulance to Limerick Regional Hospital, where it is understood he was in a serious condition last night.
The injured man was travelling with his wife. She escaped uninjured from the crash but was last night being treated for shock.
There were emotional scenes as news of the tragedy spread through the sparsely-populated rural area.
Family members rushed to the scene, which was about a mile from Hospital, and friends and neighbours struggled to comfort the bereaved.
The road was closed off as members of the emergency services attended to the scene, and traffic diversions were put in place.
A Garda spokesman said the road was not known as an accident blackspot, but it had been raining all day and driving conditions were poor at the time of the crash.
"This is a terribly tragedy - it's a closely-knit community where everybody knows everybody else, and for three young people to die like this is a terrible blow," said one local person.
The accident is the second three-fatality accident to happen in two days, and follows the death of a young couple and their four- month-old daughter in a crash in Wexford on Wednesday.
Mr Conor Martin (18) and his partner, Ms Emma Conroy (17) along with baby daughter Chloe, all from Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, were killed when their car was in collision with a truck near the town.