Two teenage friends killed in a crash in Co Donegal were returning home after working a night shift in a local restaurant.
The victims have been named locally as Alana Harkin and Thomas Gallagher, both 18 and from Gleneely on the Inishowen peninsula.
The friends died following the crash on the R238 at Terrawee, Gleneely, at around 12.45 am on Monday morning.
It appears the car in which the teenage friends were travelling 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.
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, has 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."
Stephen Maguire
Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website Beat102103.com.
