{"id":525815,"date":"2026-06-30T13:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T13:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/525815\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T13:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T13:01:08","slug":"mullingar-plunged-into-profound-grief-and-sorrow-after-deaths-of-three-people-in-spain-crash-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/525815\/","title":{"rendered":"Mullingar \u2018plunged into profound grief and sorrow\u2019 after deaths of three people in Spain crash \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mullingar community has been plunged \u201cinto profound grief and sorrow\u201d following the deaths of three local people in a car crash<\/a> in southern Spain<\/a>, a priest has said.<\/p>\n

Two women and a man from the Mullingar area of Co Westmeath<\/a>, aged between 24 and 32, were fatally injured in the incident near Malaga early on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

They have been named locally as Mark McCullagh and Michaela Newcombe, a couple, and Amy McCullagh.<\/p>\n

A fourth person was taken to hospital to be treated for serious injuries. He is Ian McCullagh, husband of Amy and brother of Mark.<\/p>\n

The two couples had flown out on holiday to the Spanish resort last week.<\/p>\n

Fr Barry White, a priest based in Mullingar, said local people are \u201cdeeply shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of members of this community through devastating circumstances in Spain\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said this time of year is normally full of happiness with many families \u201ctravelling and enjoying well earned holidays and rest\u201d, but \u201ctragedy has plunged our parish and community into profound grief and sorrow\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Irish Times on Tuesday, he said the bereaved families are \u201ctraumatised\u201d and the local community is rallying around them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this heartbreaking time, our thoughts and prayers and deepest sympathies are with the bereaved families.\u201d<\/p>\n

White said members of the community are \u201cpraying for those who have passed away … and also for those who have been injured, that they\u2019ll receive healing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tributes have been pouring in for the deceased. <\/p>\n

Michaela Newcombe worked as a receptionist in Havana Sun, a beauty salon in Mullingar town. In a post on social media, the salon paid tribute to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d be shocked to see how many hearts you\u2019ve broken by leaving us, how many people miss you, and just how many people love you,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only wish you knew how special you were to so many of us. Our salon will never be the same, and we won\u2019t even try to pretend it will be.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou loved this place, and this place loved you right back. It will always hold your laughter, your kindness, and your spirit.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom now on, it won\u2019t just be our salon. It will always be a place that carries your memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post added that she will be \u201cforever beautiful, forever young, forever loved\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another Mullingar business, KK\u2019s Bargain Balloons, posted a tribute to Amy McCullagh, stating there was \u201ca huge, dark cloud over our little town\u201d.<\/p>\n

The business \u201chad the pleasure to be part of many a celebration for Amy and the family\u201d, adding that \u201cAmy was a beautiful friend, she had the most beautiful soul and infectious smile\u201d.<\/p>\n

A minute\u2019s silence<\/a> was held at a Westmeath County Council meeting on Monday night.<\/p>\n

The crash happened on the A7 motorway near Malaga at about 2.30am on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The car in which the Irish group were travelling, a rented Mercedes, went through a barrier and plunged down an embankment, ending up on a nearby street, Spanish police said.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Civil Guard on Monday said an investigation was ongoing but it was \u201ctoo early\u201d to say what caused the crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese cars nowadays don\u2019t have a black box but they have information via computers that is going to facilitate the work of the investigators and obtain certain data,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said Irish consular teams in Spain are offering support to the families affected by the crash<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an absolutely devastating accident, devastating for all of the families involved,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are providing consular assistance to all of the families that are involved here. One person is still critically ill and in the hospital, and I really do wish them recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mullingar community has been plunged \u201cinto profound grief and sorrow\u201d following the deaths of three local people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,2846,59],"class_list":["post-525815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-spain","tag-westmeath"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}