Six die in head-on collision between car and lorry

Six people were confirmed dead this morning following a head-on collision between two vehicles near Drogheda, Co Louth late last night. The Vauxhall Astra car involved, was registered in Co Armagh and had earlier been reported as speeding. Gardai were seeking the car at the time of the crash.

The accident took place on a bend at Pope's Cross, Killineer, four miles north of Drogheda, just after 11 p.m. Two young women and three young men in the car were killed when the vehicle was buried beneath the cab of the lorry as they headed south on the north-bound carriageway of the main Dublin Belfast road.

The driver and only occupant of the lorry was also killed.

Believed to be in his 30s and the father of a young family he is understood to be from Co Louth.

The lorry, with a 1997 Louth registration was carrying potatoes and was heading northwards. None of the dead has yet been formally identified.

A priest and a doctor attended. Four units of Drogheda fire brigade were at the scene, as was Louth chief fire officer, Mr Eamon

Maguire. The road was still blocked early this morning as fire crew worked to remove the bodies from the wreckage which were removed to

Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda.

The accident took place as Operation Lifesaver was about to enter its second week in the Louth/ Meath Garda division area. Last year the number of fatalities on the roads in the division amounted to 10

per cent of the total for the State.

In 1996, 453 people died on the roads, compared with 433 in 1995, and 404 in 1994. Operation Lifesaver was introduced by the Garda's new Travel Policy Bureau, established earlier this month, with the intention of reducing death and serious injury on roads in Louth,

Meath, and parts of north Dublin through strict enforcement of anti-speeding laws.

Unmarked Garda cars, with video cameras, and unmarked speed-detector vans with concealed cameras along with extra gardai, are being used in an attempt to enforce traffic laws.

According to Chief Supt John O'Brien of the Bureau, the main causes of road accidents are speeding, failure to wear seatbelts, drunk driving, and dangerous driving.