Five teenagers killed after car drives wrong way on motorway are pictured

Five youths killed in wrong-way motorway crash

Five boys who died after driving contraflow on a motorway in pursuit of’ ‘social media likes’ have been named and pictured for the first time.

Kamil Pustkowski, Joey Carthy, Alex McCarthy, Jack Kennedy and Jeremy O’Brien sped the wrong way down the M9 in Co Kildare, crashing into a family heading on holiday.

The quintet, all believed to be aged between 15 and 18, had failed to stop for Gardaí, the Irish police force, before they crashed into a Hyundai carrying a family heading to Dublin airport for a holiday.

A woman in her 20s and two women in their 30s were injured, as well as a seven-year-old.

The scene on the M9 northbound at Junction 3 in Co Kildare where a number of people have died and others have been seriously injured after a head-on collision between two cars. A Gardai spokesperson said the incident on Sunday morning at 3am occurred when one of the cars was travelling in the wrong direction. Picture date: Sunday August 16, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire
taken w/o permission please legal

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Five teenage boys are dead after a head-on smash on an Irish motorway. The youngsters, who were all in one car travelling the wrong way down the M9, died at the scene in Co Kildare in the early hours of Sunday. The passengers in the second vehicle are understood to be members of the same family who were travelling to Dublin Airport, with images from the scene showing a suitcase by the roadside. Emergency services were alerted to a vehicle travelling southbound on the M9 northbound carriageway at junction 3 at around 3am. Garda? confirmed the bodies of the five teenage men have now been removed from the scene and taken to Naas General Hospital where post-mortem examinations will take place. The female driver and front-seat passenger of the second car, both aged in their 30s, have been taken to Tallaght University Hospital and both remain in critical condition. A female rear-seat passenger, in her 20s, was taken to St Luke's General Hospital and is in a serious condition, said the spokesman. The third passenger, a child, has been taken to the Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin and is in a serious condition.

The woman in her 20s was also severely injured and is being treated in St Luke’s General Hospital in Kilkenny, while the other two female passengers are receiving medical care in Tallaght University Hospital in south Co Dublin.

It is also understood that all those who died were travelling in the vehicle driving in the wrong direction.

The group of boys have since been linked to the so-called ‘lucky dip’ gang, a network of teenage joyriders first identified by the Gardaí last year.

The name derives from the gang’s tendency to target areas at random to steal cars.

‘Lucky dip’ is thought to comprise of some 60 members, with some aged as young as 14.

Some three hundred incidents were linked to the group in the first three months of this year alone.

Alex McCarthy For Dan Sanderson
TAKEN W/O PERMISSION PLEASE LEGAL https://www.tiktok.com/@jack.kennedy75/photo/7555639978080980246

Primarily operating by night, the group joyrides vehicles to generate viral footage for Tiktok and Instagram, following a trend of dangerous social media stunts.

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said the incident was made all the more reckless as it was done ‘for social media likes’.

John Joe O’Connell, vice-president of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) said teenagers were trying to outdo each other’ with videos depicting dangerous acts such as wrong-way driving.

Those pursuing social media engagement are ‘playing Russian roulette with their lives and everyone else’s lives’, he warned.

He added that police were not equipped to tackle these kinds of high risk incidents, including motorists that deliberately travel contraflow on motorways, following reports officers were advised not to pursue the stolen BMW.

Five teenage boys are dead after a head-on smash on an Irish motorway. The youngsters, who were all in one car travelling the wrong way down the M9, died at the scene in Co Kildare in the early hours of Sunday. The passengers in the second vehicle are understood to be members of the same family who were travelling to Dublin Airport, with images from the scene showing a suitcase by the roadside. Emergency services were alerted to a vehicle travelling southbound on the M9 northbound carriageway at junction 3 at around 3am. Garda? confirmed the bodies of the five teenage men have now been removed from the scene and taken to Naas General Hospital where post-mortem examinations will take place. The female driver and front-seat passenger of the second car, both aged in their 30s, have been taken to Tallaght University Hospital and both remain in critical condition. A female rear-seat passenger, in her 20s, was taken to St Luke's General Hospital and is in a serious condition, said the spokesman. The third passenger, a child, has been taken to the Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin and is in a serious condition.

He said: ‘There’s not one member of An Garda Síochána trained in pursuit – never mind in dealing with cars going down the wrong way.’

They had been travelling on the correct side of the road, driving to Dublin Airport, with images showing suitcases at the roadside.

A cousin of Joe Carthy and Alex McCarthy wrote on social media: ‘Rest in peace my two cousins Alex and Joey

‘May you get the best bed in heaven, watch over your mother and father and brothers and sisters at this hard time.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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