Five people died and four people were seriously injured after a horror head-on collision occurred on the motorway in the early hours of Sunday (August 16) in County Kildare
Police have blamed a “social media trend” after five teenagers died in a head-on motorway crash.
The crash, in County Kildare, Ireland, happened when a BMW carrying five balaclava-wearing teenagers was driven into oncoming northbound traffic on the M9 motorway around 3am on Sunday (August 16). The incident is thought to be the latest in a social media trend where reckless drivers are filmed speeding the wrong direction on motorways.
After the horror incident, Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said: “What makes this reckless behaviour even more appalling is that in some cases it is being done for social media likes, regardless of the potentially devastating impact it might have on innocent people and themselves.”
The BMW collided with a Hyundai carrying four members of the same family, who were travelling to Dublin Airport. The car’s driver and front passenger – both in their 30s – were taken to Tallaght University Hospital and remain in a “critical condition”, according to police.
The crash was the second in just over a week involving injuries to drivers and passengers after a vehicle was driven on the wrong side of the road. Nine people were injured in a head-on collision on the M50 motorway in Dublin on August 9. It was later discovered the car had been reported stolen.
Police are investigating reports into whether the BMW which crashed into the Hyundai yesterday was stolen.
Kelly added: “As this particular incident has been referred to Fiosrú, the Police Ombudsman, I am constrained in what I can say in detail about this. But I know that gardaí do what they can to stop such vehicles while also taking into consideration all other road users.”
According to several sources, the crash scene was so horrific that gardai initially thought only four teenagers had perished in the collision as they were visible in the wreckage of the BMW, reports the Irish Mirror .
It wasn’t until late in the afternoon when specialists moved the car from the scene that gardai found the fifth body beneath the vehicle.
According to sources, officers were alerted to a group of teenagers attempting to break into cars and houses in the town in the early hours of the morning – some time before the fatal crash.