Three killed in head-on collision
Gardaí believe the car carrying the teenager was driving on the wrong side of the road when it smashed into an oncoming car.
The tragedy, which left two others injured, brought to four the number of people killed on the road over the weekend.
Earlier yesterday, a pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run incident in Dublin.
Three people, two men and one woman, died when two cars collided at Speenogue, Burt, on the N13 road between Letterkenny and Derry at around 7am yesterday.
“The scene was one of total carnage,” said Superintendent Vincent O’Brien of Buncrana Garda Station.
“It spread over an extended area of the main road and it’s a stretch of road that’s been resurfaced at the moment and a number of bollards are in that area and cones.”
The victims were driver Owen McGinley, aged 31, from Trentamucklagh, St Johnston, Co Donegal, and back-seat passenger John Shields, aged 15, from Glenwood Park, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
The female was named as Ethna Quigley, aged 40, from Solomons Court, Letterkenny.
Two other males were injured in the crash, one of them seriously.
The four males were travelling in a red Honda Accord, while Ms Quigley was the driver and sole passenger in a green Volkswagen Passat.
Supt O’Brien said: “It would appear that the Honda went down the wrong side of the bollards and collided with the green Volkswagen Passat in the opposite direction. It was a head-on collision and the consequences were fatal.”
Six units of the fire brigade attended to the scene.
The deceased were removed to Letterkenny Hospital, along with another passenger, who was seriously injured.
A fourth male was taken to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry where his condition was described as stable.
Gardaí at Buncrana appealed to any witnesses who were in the area between 6.45am and 7.15am to ring them on 077-61555.
Meanwhile, gardaí in Dublin are investigating a fatal hit-and-run collision at Littlepace on the old Navan Road, near Clonee, Co Meath.
A male pedestrian, aged in his 40s, was hit by a car at around 12.35am.
He was taken to James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown. Gardaí later arrested two men and seized a car.
Both men were later released and gardaí will now prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Yesterday, they appealed for witnesses to ring Blanchardstown Garda Station on 01-6667000.
The weekend tragedies brings to 249 the number of people killed on the road so far this year.
