Man killed and six injured in two-car collision

ONE young man was killed and six people, three of them children, were badly injured in a two-car crash near Newbridge, Co Kildare last evening.

The accident happened at Martinstown, outside Newbridge, at 5pm.

The deceased, who was in his mid-20s, was a passenger in one of the two cars. Six others were taken to Naas hospital with injuries.

Meanwhile Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Irish friends of the five people killed in last weekend’s car crash in Donegal gathered to say their final farewells yesterday.

Fellow workers, employers and friends came to the Mortuary Chapel in Letterkenny General Hospital to pay their respects to Aija Porcika, 38, her daughter Ginta Veite, 19, Marita Kerpe, 28, Danielitis Abartis, 23, all from Latvia, and Lithuanian Ricardas Bielskis, 35.

They died in a two-car collision on the main Buncrana to Derry road early last Saturday morning.

Mr Bielskis had been driving the car in which Ms Kerpe, Ms Porcika and her daughter Ginta were passengers. They had been returning from Dublin Airport, Ginta having just arrived in the country for the summer.

Mr Abartis was driving the other car. A passenger in that car is still being treated in hospital.

Thirty Eastern European workers from E&I Engineering, Burnfoot, where Ms Porcika and Mr Bielskis worked, came with their five Irish supervisors to pay their last respects.

One of the supervisors, Terence Devine, spoke fondly of Ms Porcika, the only female worker in his area of production.

“She was a very nice person and was very well liked by everyone. She had been telling us about her daughter Ginta coming to stay and she hoped she would be able to get her a job here. Their homecoming will be a terrible sight,” Mr Devine said.

Staff from Farren’s convenience store in Buncrana, where Ms Kerpe worked, gathered with the shop owner Bernard Farren.

Russell Coulter, owner of a mushroom farm at Muff where Ms Porcika and Ms Kerpe had previously worked, brought his 11 Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian workers to the service.

Ms Kerpe, a mother of two, had worked there for three years. Ms Porcika had been employed there for six months before the two women moved to Buncrana.

The Polish boyfriend of Ms Kerpe, Wojket, was overwhelmed by grief at the chapel. He and the other mourners laid flowers on the coffins.

Fr Con McLaughlin from Buncrana attended the service with hospital chaplain Fr Declan McCarron and Rev Stuart Wright. Prayers were offered for the deceased and their families.

Afterwards, Fr McLaughlin said the events of the previous five days had brought into sharp focus how little was known about the Eastern European community in the area.

“This has taught us that bridges need to be built and we need to begin to understand them,” he said.

An interdenominational service will be held in St Mary’s Hall, Buncrana, tomorrow at 6pm.