Community 'numb' over deaths of two young friends

A community in Londonderry has been left "numb" and "in shock" following the deaths of two young friends in a crash across the border in Donegal, according to a grief counsellor.

Caoimhin Porter-McLoone and Daniel Cullen, both 18, were passengers in a car which was in collision with a lorry in the village of St Johnston, eight miles from Derry on Tuesday night.

A third man in his late teens is being treated for serious injuries in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

Debbie Mullan, from the charity Road Victim Support Northern Ireland-Donegal, described the Shantallow area, where the victims lived, as "a community in shock and disbelief".

Her own 17-year-old son, Keelan, was killed in a crash 13 years ago and she said she wanted to shared a "lived experience" with the people of the tight-knit community of Shantallow.

But she said her thoughts were also with the family of the third young man who are "sitting around his hospital bedside in Belfast".

"These families and the whole community are sitting with a collective feeling of being shocked," she told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.

"They're in a state of numbness and even disbelief but there will also be feelings of anger and guilt and fear and pain."

Counsellors and volunteers from her group, many of whom had lost loved ones in road crashes, spent hours talking to locals in Shantallow community centre.

Mullan said the statistics surrounding road deaths do not reflect the devastation caused to the families involved.

Forty people have been killed on the roads on the island of Ireland so far this year.

Of those, 25 were in the Republic of Ireland and 15 in Northern Ireland.

Prayers were said for the three friends during morning Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes church in Shantallow on Thursday morning.

Brendan Grant said it was an awful tragedy and the sadness was reflected in the Mass.

Alban Norrby said there were no words to describe the loss of two young lives.

"It's sad and devastating and really unbelievable," he said.

His wife Marie added: "I feel so sorry for the families."

Mickey Kerrigan said the Shantallow community was thinking and praying for the bereaved families "at this desperately difficult time".

Retired businessman Alec Orr said the entire Derry community was in shock.

"It's devastating," he said.

"Two young lads with their lives in front of them."

Gardaí have appealed for anyone who may have witnessed the collision to come forward.

Road users who may have camera footage, including dash-cam, and were travelling in the area between 22:45 and 23:45 are asked to make this available to investigating gardaí.