'Unimaginable' grief after crash kills three

Communities have been left "stunned" after three people died following a road crash in County Armagh at the weekend.

The three-vehicle collision happened on the Armagh Road near the village of Moy on Saturday evening.

Conor Quinn, 31, from Derrylaughan, County Tyrone, John Guy, 48, who was originally from Dublin but living in Keady, and 23- year-old Laura Hoy-Henry, from Cookstown, all died at the scene.

SDLP councillor Thomas O'Hanlon said the "grief is just unimaginable and people are really, really stunned".

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme, O'Hanlon said three families and three communities have been "torn apart in the blink of an eye".

"There's a silence over the community," he said.

O'Hanlon spoke about the long-term effect on the families.

"Your heart just goes out to families where mummies and daddies aren't there for big occasions, for the little things that you want to run and tell them happened on this day at school or that day at work," he said.

"That's where it will really hit home."

According to online death notices, 11 children lost a parent in the crash.

O'Hanlon said the Armagh Road was "extremely busy, both day and night".

"People are always concerned about road safety on that stretch of road," he added.

Diana Armstrong, Ulster Unionist Party assembly member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, said the Armagh Road was a "long, straight, fast road".

"People say to even get on to the road from a side road it can take up to 25 cars before you can get on to the road so that just gives you an idea of how busy that road is," she said.

Sinn Féin assembly member Colm Gildernew told Good Morning Ulster there was a sense of numbness in the community.

"Three families, three communities totally ripped apart," Gildernew said.

"The community will rally around the the community, will support those families to their best ability and the families will bear the grief.

"I have no doubt this will be something that will just totally change lives forever."

Four other people sustained injuries in the incident.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) said it despatched three rapid response paramedics, seven emergency crews, one HART (Hazardous Area Response Team) crew, an ambulance officer and an ambulance doctor to the incident.

Following assessment and initial treatment at the scene, two patients were taken to Craigavon Area Hospital and another to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

Police are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident or who had dashcam footage or any other information to contact them.

Four other people died over the weekend in road traffic collisions in the Republic of Ireland.