Gardaí appeal for help identifying crash victims

GARDAÍ were last night trying to confirm the identities of three men killed in a crash — two days after the collision happened.

It is believed the victims of the crash, which occurred about three kilometres from the town of Cashel in south Tipperary on Friday night, were Romanian and aged in their 20s.

Reports locally suggested that gardaí had found a passport belonging to one of the men but were considering fingerprinting the victims to verify their identities.

However, no family members had yet come forward by last night to suggest they were related to any of the victims and gardaí have enlisted the help of the Romanian embassy to alert possible relatives. “We’re satisfied that they are Romanian but we haven’t spoken to any families yet,” a Garda spokesperson said.

The three men were travelling south along the old N8 Dublin-Cork road when the crash happened at about 10.50pm on Friday. Their bodies remained at the scene for over 12 hours.

The car they were travelling in was badly damaged when it collided with a truck and ended up buried underneath it. A crane had to be deployed to the scene to separate the vehicles and allow the bodies to be removed to Waterford Regional Hospital for postmortem examinations.

The driver of the truck, from Templemore in Co Tipperary, received minor injuries and was treated at South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel before being discharged on Saturday. Gardaí said he was “traumatised” by what happened and it is understood he told investigators that the Volkswagen Passat containing the victims went onto its incorrect side of the road just before the collision.

Gardaí have renewed an appeal for information.

Officers are keen to talk to members of the Romanian community in Ireland and anyone who can help is asked to ring Cashel Garda Station on 062-75840, the Garda confidential line 1800-600111 or any Garda station.