Two teenage friends killed in a road traffic accident in Inishowen in the early hours of this morning were returning home after one of them worked a nightshift in a local restaurant.
The victims have been named locally as Alana Harkin and Thomas Gallagher, both 18 and from Gleneely.
The friends died following the crash on the R238 at Terrawee, Gleneely, at around 12.45am this morning.
It appears the car in which the teenage friends were traveling lost control and ended up in a wooded area.
A third person, a young man in his late teens, was rushed to Letterkenny University Hospital for treatment but his injuries are not understood to be life-threatening.
The group had earlier left the restaurant where at least one of them worked and left another friend off in the Glengad area of Inishowen before the three remaining in the car traveled onwards towards Gleneely where both Thomas and Alana were from.
Thomas was a Leaving Certificate pupil at Moville Community College.
His parents, Helen and Dominic and the rest of the Gallagher family, were today coming to terms with the tragedy.
Mum Helen is a teacher at the school where Thomas attended.
Alana had been a pupil at Carndonagh Community School but had completed her Leaving Certificate last summer.
Her parents Karen and Patrick and the rest of the Harkin family were also trying to cope with their heartbreaking sudden loss.
Local county councillor from Culdaff, Johnny McGuinness, said the entire community is just devastated by the loss of such young lives.
He said “These were good young people returning home from working in a local restaurant but then the unthinkable happened.
“They were lovely young people with their entire lives ahead of them. They were young people coming home from work and it’s not that they were out late at night partying or anything like that.”
Councillor McGuinness said the entire community was just numb considering thoughts were now turning towards the festive season.
“People are starting to think about the festive season and that’s obviously a very family-orientated time of year.
“But to think that these poor young souls won’t be with their families then is hard to take.
“But the community will gather around and support the families as best they can but it is very difficult to take it all in at the moment.
“Everyone is just so numb that we are facing this kind of tragedy and loss again in our local community,” he said.
Councillor McGuinness added that, while the time is not right now to discuss it, there is a “conversation to be had” about overall road safety and what he called the lack of Garda resources in the area.
Echoing Councillor McGuinness’ concerns, Councillor Terry Crossan, Cathaoirleach of the Inishowen Municipal District, said everyone across the community, young and old, have to take a step back and look at how we are using our roads.
He said “I am urging young people and all people for that matter to be extremely careful and vigilant especially now we are coming into the darker evenings and we just have to be conscious and to be that extra bit more vigilant because. I’m a man of 70 and when I’m driving I know how difficult it is with rain and haze and glare so we must be cautious at all times.”
Councillor Crossan added that unfortunately Inishowen was once again at the centre of a media spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
“We have been acquainted with n a number of incidents like this over the years. All around Inishowen people are devastated and in shock that this kind of tragedy has visited us again.
“I would also like to commend the Gardai and the emergency services who have to deal first-hand with the devastation of this as they are often forgotten.
“It’s horrendous for Inishowen. When I heard the news I was heartbroken but we’ll never be as heartbroken as the parents and families of these two young people who have been taken from us.”
The emergency services rushed to the scene of last night’s crash which happened at a notorious accident blackspot.
A technical examination by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators has been ongoing all day while road diversions were put in place.
Gardai in Buncrana, who are leading the investigation, appealed to anyone who may have witnessed the crash or was in the area near the time to contact them.
A Garda spokesperson said “Any road users who were travelling on the R238 in the early hours of this morning between midnight and 1:00am and has camera footage (including dash-cam), is asked to make this available to Gardaí.
“Anyone with any information is asked to contact Buncrana Garda Station on 074 932 0540, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.”
The two deceased young were taken from the accident scene and transferred to Letterkenny General Hospital.
Their remains are expected to be released tonight as their heartbroken families make arrangements for their funerals in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it is a matter of “enormous concern” that more people have died on Irish roads this year than did all of last year.
He said the deaths of two young people in Donegal is very much on everyone’s minds.
“We have made so much progress in the last couple of decades,” Mr Varadkar said.
“There was a time when 600, 700 people were dying on our roads and it is really disturbing to see that number, which had come down, going back up again and it is something I will be taking a personal interest in as Taoiseach.”
