Three teenagers dead following event at Cookstown Hotel

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton spoke to Q Radio:

The ACC said: “I can confirm that a third teenager has now sadly died from injuries sustained during an incident at the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown last night.

"The three teenagers who died are a 17-year-old girl, a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy. A 16-year-old girl is in a stable condition in hospital. A further two teenagers were treated for injuries they received during the incident.

"First and foremost my thoughts this morning are very much with the families of the three young people who passed away and those who were injured. It is heartbreaking that an event which should have been fun for these youngsters on St Patrick’s night should end in such a terrible tragedy.

"Detectives have now launched an investigation in conjunction with Environmental Health at Mid Ulster Council to try and establish what happened.

 

 

"Events unfolded shortly before 9.30pm last night when the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service received a 999 call with reports of people injured outside the hotel.  They declared it a major incident and police, Fire Service and Environmental Health then also attended the scene.

"Police arrived within two minutes of the call from the Ambulance Service and quickly secured the scene. We made an urgent appeal via social media to parents of the young people to come and collect them from a Friends and Family Centre which was established in the nearby Glenavon Hotel.

 

 

"Our investigation is at an early stage, and while the exact cause of the incident is still unknown, there are reports of a crush at the scene and initial enquiries indicate that a large group of young people were waiting to enter a disco. We also have reports of some fighting after the incident commenced and at least one person has reported that they were assaulted."

Meanwhile,Denise Mullen is a local councillor and describes the scene when she got there:

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service says it was called to the hotel around 9.30pm after reports of people feeling unwell.

It is understood a large crowd of young people were in attendance.

In a Facebook post at 22:41 GMT, the PSNI asked parents to collect their children from the hotel immediately.

Here's local MLA Patsy McGlone: