Five teenage boys are dead and four other people are badly hurt after a car was driven the wrong way down a major Irish motorway, authorities said Sunday. The two-car crash happened around 3am on the M9 near Athy in County Kildare; all five teens died at the scene, the Guardian reports. Three women—two in their 30s and one in her 20s—and a boy in the second car are in the hospital with serious to critical injuries. Sources tell the Irish Mirror the teens were in a BMW, possibly stolen, driving the wrong way, and that they were wearing balaclavas or masks. The sources say the car was seen driving the wrong direction twice in a matter of minutes.
Garda commissioner Justin Kelly called the head-on collision "horrific" and warned that in some recent cases, motorists have driven against traffic on motorways to generate social media attention—knowing the gardai will not follow them if they're driving in the wrong direction. The incident has been referred to Ireland's police ombudsman, limiting what officials can disclose, but Kelly said, "These family members were travelling innocently when they were struck by a vehicle being driven the wrong way down the motorway." He pointed to another recent wrong-way collision in the country, which injured nine people, and reminded people there's no reason to engage in such "reckless" behavior. Gardaí are asking witnesses and anyone with dashcam footage to contact them. Sources tell the Irish Times the victims in the other car were three sisters and one of their children.
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