Investigations are continuing into a crash in County Kildare last night which claimed the lives of four young women.
It's understood the women who died were college friends on their way back to university after the Christmas holidays, when their car collided with a van at Burtown, around 3 miles from Junction 3 on the M9.
Gardaí have named the victims as 19-year-old Gemma Nolan from Carlow, 19-year-old Niamh Doyle from Carlow, 20-year-old Chermaine Carroll from Carlow and 19-year-old Aisling Middleton from Athy.
Another woman in the car and two men travelling in the van were seriously hurt in the crash.
They were treated at the scene before being rushed to Naas General Hospital.
The road where the collision happened is expected to remain closed for much of the day - to facilitate a forenisc examination.
Diversions are place and gardai are appealing for anyone who witnessed the accident to contact them at Athy.
One of the first people to come on to the scene was Kildare County Councillor Aoife Breslin and she spoke to Newstalk Breakfast this morning:
