Three men die in road accidents

Police have appealed for information about the accident

Three men have died in two separate road accidents in Northern Ireland in the space of 24 hours.

A 56-year-old man died after he was hit by a car while walking along the Ballynamony Road, Lurgan, on Thursday evening.

Two men died earlier on Thursday after a collision between two lorries on the A5 between Omagh and Newtownstewart.

Shane Caldwell, 20, from Strabane died along with 26-year-old Zoltan Szabo, who had been living in Sion Mills.

Mr Caldwell was the driver of one lorry and Mr Szabo was a passenger in the other vehicle.

The driver of the second lorry is in hospital where his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

Parish priest Father John Doherty said the Caldwells were well known in the town because of the family business.

Youngest child

"It is particularly hard for his mother whose husband died about three and a half years ago. He was the owner of the tyre business and now she has to cope with the death of her youngest child.

"Shane was the youngest of six children, three boys and three girls, he had been the only unmarried one and the only one living at home with his mother."

Bridge Construction, the company that employed Mr Szabo, said they were devastated by his death and had been in close contact with his family.

Site manager Gareth McGuigan said they were doing everything they could to help Mr Szabo's friends get home.

Meanwhile, a priest has appealed for an interpreter to help friends of Mr Szabo make arrangements to take his body home.

Father Peter McLaughlin, who spoke to Mr Szabo's friends on Friday, said the communication problem was making a bad situation worse.

Bert Wilson, chairman of Omagh Council, said there have been a number of road deaths in the area recently.

"At my last two council meetings, my first job when I was opening the meeting was to extend or sympathy to people killed on the Ballygawley side of Omagh," he said.

Extra police will be on the roads over the Easter weekend aimed at reducing deaths and increase driver safety.

Chief inspector Ian Blaney urged drivers to be careful over the holiday weekend.