THE TWO TEENAGERS who died in a road crash in Co Donegal have been named locally as Alana Harkin and Thomas Gallagher.

Gardaí said Harkin and Gallagher, in their late teens, died in the collision in the Gleneely area in the early hours of yesterday.

A second male, also in his late teens, was taken to hospital with injuries which are not believed to be life-threatening.

One car was involved in the incident on the R238 at Terrawee at around 12.30am.

“Two occupants of the car, a female and male aged in their late teens, were pronounced deceased at the scene and their bodies have been removed to Letterkenny University Hospital,” a Garda spokesperson said.

“The third occupant of the car, a male aged in his late teens, has been taken to Letterkenny University Hospital to be treated for injuries believed to be non-life-threatening.”

Gardai in Buncrana are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the collision to contact them on 074 932 0540, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.

The chairman of the Inishowen Municipal District of Donegal County Council, Terry Crossan, said he was “completely horrified” to learn of the crash.

“I would like to offer my sincere condolences to their parents and to their wider extended families.

“I would also like to take the opportunity to commend the emergency services, the gardai, the ambulances, who have to deal with these situations first hand.

“To have lost two more of our young people is absolutely tragic.”

Speaking to The Journal yesterday morning, Donegal County Councillor Jack Murray said the Inishowen community is “in mourning” and will be “devastated by the loss of two young lives”. 

“As a community we’ve been hit by many tragedies over the years,” Murray said. 

“People will be extremely saddened when they hear the news this morning. My thoughts and prayers are with the family at this extremely difficult time.” 

There have been more road deaths so far in 2023 than in all of 2022, something Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has called a “matter of enormous concern”.

Speaking to reporters at the opening of N22 Baile Bhuirne-Macroom bypass in Co Cork yesterday, Varadkar said: “There’s no one thing that makes our roads safer. You have to do lots of different things.

“So, increasing enforcement is part of that, that is about additional gardaí, it is also about more GoSafe vans and they’ve been approved.

“It is also about improving our roads and making sure they’re well maintained – and also about education.”

Varadkar added that there has been “so much progress in the last couple of decades”.

“There was a time when 600, 700 people were dying on our roads and really disturbing to see that number that had come down, go back up again – and something I’ll be taking a personal interest in as Taoiseach.”

Includes reporting by Press Association