Tributes have been paid to the two victims of a fatal three-car collision in Co Antrim as police continue their investigation into the incident.
Samuel Stewart and Leah Ferguson died following the crash in the Ballyhill Road area outside Crumlin shortly after 10.10pm on Thursday.
Mr Stewart (37) was the driver of a grey Audi A6, while Ms Ferguson, who was in her early 20s, was the passenger in a silver Volkswagen Golf.
Both were pronounced dead at the scene of the collision, which also involved a black Citroen Volcane.
Another man remains in hospital, and police are continuing their investigation into the circumstances of the crash, appealing for witnesses or those with dash-cam footage to contact them.
Mr Stewart was from the Shankill area of Belfast, while Ms Ferguson was from Newtownabbey, and friends and loved ones have paid tribute to them on social media.
Ms Ferguson’s friend Kerri Dunlop wrote in a Facebook post: “Rip beautiful, my prayers and thoughts are with your mummy and your family.”
She added: “Life was too short and unpredictable, a few weeks ago you were waving out the bus window as I passed you smiling away like normal.”
Amy Maxwell wrote: “Words can’t describe the pain we feel, you were the kindest nicest person, I’m completely lost for words.”
A spokesperson for the Mayfield Village Community Association in Newtownabbey, with which Ms Ferguson had attended youth events, said: “Leah was a beautiful girl inside and out and we will hold her in our hearts until we meet again.”
The committee , volunteers and young people of Mayfield Village hall would like to send their heart felt condolences to...
Posted by Mayfield Village Hall on Friday, 1 March 2024
An online fundraising page has been set up to raise £1,500 for Ms Ferguson’s family, and organiser Marguerite Gallagher said: “We as a community would like to come together to help support her mother Nicola Skillen and extended family circle and friends. Every donation is greatly appreciated.”
Meanwhile, Samuel Stewart was known to loved ones as Sammy, and friend William McGreevy said in a Facebook post: “Rest in paradise big man, thoughts and prayers with his whole family and his kids.”
Diane Calderwood wrote: “Going to miss your crazy texts and contagious laugh”, adding: “You’ll be loved and missed beyond words.”
The rural Ballyhill Road between Crumlin and Belfast has been the scene of horror crashes in previous years, including in 2006 when eight-year-old west Belfast girl Lorna McGuigan and her 30-year-old father Jim Joe McGuigan died in a collision that also critically injured Lorna’s two sisters, aged 4 and 5.
In 2004, four students, Graeme Waring (17), Ian Currie (18), and Philip McMurray (19) and Joseph McDonald (19), died when a car driven by Kurtis Armstrong (31) crashed into a field at Ballyhill Road. Armstrong was jailed in 2008 after being convicted of of causing death by dangerous driving.
