Major update on BMW after five teens died in M9 wrong way crash

Police have reportedly established that the BMW car involved in the crash that saw five teens killed on the M9 in a wrong-way collision wasn't stolen. The black BMW had instead been legitimately bought for just €1,100 only five days before the tragedy, according to the Irish Mirror.

Sources told the newspaper the vehicle was purchased in the Carlow area on August 11 by an associate of one of the teenagers. Officers had initially suspected the teenagers had stolen the car after Gardaí received reports of young suspects trying to break into vehicles and houses in Athy at around 2am on Sunday. But the Irish Mirror reports Gardaí are now satisfied the BMW was not stolen and that it had been legitimately purchased from a man in Carlow. Around an hour after the reports in Athy, the BMW was driven the wrong way down the northbound carriageway of the M9 before smashing head-on into a Hyundai carrying a family travelling to Dublin Airport for a flight to England.

Jeremy O'Brien, 18, and Alex McCarthy, 17, both from Carlow, Joe Carthy, 15, and Jack Kennedy, 17, both from Athy, Co Kildare, and Kamil Pustkowski, 17, from Limerick, were killed in the collision.

All five teenagers in the BMW died, while the four people travelling in the Hyundai – three women and a seven-year-old boy – survived but were seriously injured.

The occupants of the Hyundai were from the same extended family in Carlow. The seven-year-old boy is being treated at Crumlin Children's Hospital, while the female driver and front-seat passenger remain critically ill at Tallaght University Hospital.

The woman who had been sitting in the back alongside the boy was initially treated at St Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny before being transferred to St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin.

Gardaí had come into contact with the BMW before the fatal collision. Garda Representative Association (GRA) vice-president John Joe O'Connell said the vehicle had earlier failed to stop for officers and that it was his understanding an instruction was given not to engage with it as it travelled the wrong way down the motorway.

Asked whether this was standard procedure, he told RTE's Morning Ireland: "It would be standard practice, and the command and control centre would be dictating what happens in a live environment - but the members in the cars have to make a split-second decision."

Mr O'Connell also raised concerns about Garda pursuit training, claiming: "There’s not one garda member trained in pursuit, never mind in dealing with cars going down the wrong way."

Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan has since announced Gardaí will receive additional support to deal with dangerous driving, including pursuit training for the first time.

Mr O'Callaghan said the force would be given "whatever resources" it required, while the Irish Mirror reports the Garda Commissioner has confirmed plans to introduce pursuit training.

The minister condemned the driving that led to the M9 tragedy as "outrageously dangerous criminal behaviour", adding that driving the wrong way down a motorway was "lethally dangerous".