LAST UPDATE | 4 hrs ago

TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN paid to three people from Mullingar who died in a collision in Malaga in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The deceased have been named locally as Amy McCullagh, Mark McCullagh and Michaela Newcombe.

A fourth occupant, a 35-year-old man, was seriously injured in the two-car collision and was rushed to Malaga Regional Hospital.

Their car plunged 100ft down an embankment after smashing through a crash barrier on the A7 motorway east of Malaga after 2.30am. 

Firefighters had to free survivors from the wreckage in the accident.

A woman in her 60s who was in the other vehicle was also injured in the collision. She was treated at the scene before being taken to hospital.

Michaela worked in a beauty salon in Mullingar and in a post to social media, Havana Sun described her as the “kindest, friendliest soul”.

“With broken hearts, we say goodbye to our beautiful Michaela,” the salon added.

Michaela Newcombe Havana Sun Havana Sun

It described Michaela as the “face and the heart of our salon” and said she was the “first person to make everyone feel welcome”.

It added that she was “he one who would fight for the people she loved” and that the salon “will never be the same, and we won’t even try to pretend it will be”.

“From now on, it won’t just be our salon. It will always be a place that carries your memory.”

Elsewhere, local TD Robert Troy told Virgin Media News that there’s a “huge cloud hanging over my own home village of Ballynacarrigy”, where one of the deceased is from, as well as the wider Mullingar area.

He said that the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy in Spain is assisting the family and “trying to ease their burden”.

“It’s a horrendous time and it’s every family’s worst nightmare to receive such a call and we, as a community, need to be there to support them.”

Troy yesterday told RTÉ that he knows the family of one of those involved in the fatal collision “quite well”.

Meanwhile, local priest Fr Norman Allred said the incident is “heartbreaking” and that the parish is “holding everybody close in prayer and gathering information as best we can”.

Speaking to RTÉ, he added that “we’re ready to help family members, friends, and anybody who needs prayer and condolence at this time”.

Westmeath Council Chamber held a minute’s silence for those killed in the collision before its meeting yesterday evening.

Local Sinn Féin councillor Julie McCourt told The Journal that “our hearts are with the families and all who loved them in Mullingar and beyond.”

“It’s a devastating loss for the community and we’re holding them in our hearts and prayers,” she added.

McCourt said she wants the families of the deceased to know the community is behind them, and encouraged the public to give the families time to process what has happened.