Teenager killed in M1 motorway stolen van crash

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-32527949

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A 17-year-old man has been killed after the stolen van in which he was travelling crashed on the M1 motorway.

It happened at about 22:50 BST on Wednesday.

The van hit a barrier between the Blaris and Saintfield junctions.

The van owner, who did not wish to be named, said his vehicle had been stolen from outside the Carrickdale Hotel in Dundalk, County Louth, earlier that evening.

"It all happened so quickly," he said.

"I was called to a breakdown of a lorry on the M1 and was carrying out repairs underneath the vehicle when the driver spotted someone getting into my van.

"The next thing I saw was the van sailing up the M1, just like that.

"It was scary, very scary. The van wouldn't have been around three or four feet from me, all my tools and materials were in there."

A social media appeal for information on the vehicle was launched on Thursday and police have contacted the man about the incident.

"I don't know much else, all I know is that it's my van," he said.

Officers investigating the collision have seized a red Ford Mondeo, thought to have been travelling with the van, from an address in Lagmore, on the outskirts of west Belfast.

Police have appealed for anyone who saw either vehicle before the crash to contact them.

The motorway was closed for a time but has since reopened.