Four young Polish men killed in a two-vehicle collision in Co Cork at the weekend will be remembered at a special memorial Mass attended by members of the Polish community in Cork this evening .
Polish chaplain Fr Piotr Galus will celebrate the special Mass at St Augustine's in Cork city for Sylwester Szezyrow (25), Anderzej Wojciechowski (27), Radoslaw Nowak (23) and Rafal Corski (28), who were all killed in a crash on Friday night.
Two of the men were killed instantly and two died shortly after the Polish-registered Opel Astra driven by Mr Szezyrow collided with a truck at Goggin's Hill on the old road between the Halfway and Ballinhassig at around 10.20pm.
The driver of the truck, in his 30s and originally from the northern outskirts of Cork city, was taken to Cork University Hospital where he was treated for minor injuries and shock before being discharged on Saturday.
Mr Szezyrow, Mr Wojciechowski and Mr Corski were all living at the same house in Parknamore Rise in Ballincollig, while Mr Nowak lived at Longrange, Powdermills, also in Ballincollig. All were from Mazuria in north-eastern Poland.
It is believed Mr Szezyrow had been living in Ireland for the past two to three months, Mr Wojciechowski over a year and Mr Corski at least six months. All three were working in construction at a site in Cork city.
Meanwhile, Mr Nowak, who lived with his brother, Jacek, in Ballincollig, is believed to have worked at a filling station in the town. Gardaí spent several hours on Saturday trying to confirm the identities of the four deceased.
According to investigating gardaí, the four men had left Ballincollig a short time before the crash and had planned to visit some cliffs near Kinsale. They were travelling via a series of back roads through the Halfway and Ballinhassig when the collision happened.
According to investigating officers, the Opel Astra was involved in a head-on collision with the lorry. The crash happened on a relatively straight stretch of road and driving conditions were reasonable at the time.
The four Poles had to be cut from the wreckage by firefighters from Cork city and Bandon. All four men were moved by a fleet of Health Service Executive (Southern Region) ambulances to Cork University Hospital.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster carried out postmortem examinations on two of the deceased on Saturday and is expected to carry out autopsies on the remaining two victims today.
According to Fr Galus, the entire Polish community in Cork was deeply shocked and saddened.
All four men will be remembered at the special Mass at St Augustine's in Cork city at 6pm today.
It is expected an inquest into the men's deaths will be opened in Bandon tomorrow to allow death certificates be issued and the Polish embassy to make transportation arrangements for their funerals in Poland.
