M9 crash: Gardaí rule out involvement of ‘sixth youth’ in fatal motorway incident
Irish police have confirmed they are not seeking a 'sixth youth' in connection with a fatal car crash on the M9 motorway. Authorities also clarified that viral social media footage claiming to show the victims inside the car before the crash was likely recorded at a different time.
Why it matters
The incident highlights the dangers of online misinformation and the pressure social media platforms face regarding the moderation of reckless driving content.
Gardaí investigating the fatal crash on the M9 in Co Kildare on Sunday are not seeking anyone else as part of their inquiries, despite widespread claims that a sixth teenager had been in the car but got out just before the collision.
Much of the speculation centred on a video purporting to show the five teenagers who were killed and another youth in the BMW before the head-on crash, which left the four people travelling in the second vehicle seriously injured.
However, while investigators suspect the car in that video is the same one the five teenagers died in, they do not believe the footage was recorded in the lead up to the crash near Moone at about 3am.
The BMW was purchased last week for about €1,000 and was driven the wrong way down the M9 a number of times before it collided with an oncoming Hyundai car.
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