Five youths died in a horrific traffic accident early yesterday morning, throwing the nation into shock and the village of Qrendi into mourning. It was Malta's worst traffic accident on record.

The five, all from Qrendi, were travelling in a panelled van with another two passengers when the vehicle suddenly went out of control and slammed into a wall on the recently rebuilt Rabat-Zebbug road at around 12.45 a.m.

The other two passengers and the driver were injured, one of them grievously.

David Sacco, 13, Fabio Magro, 16, Marco Abdilla, 17, Oswaldo Emanuel Vella, 18, and Christian Camilleri, 18, were killed on impact.

Anthony Aquilina, 17, of Zurrieq, was grievously injured while passenger Matthew Magro, 17 of Qrendi and driver Anton Cassar, 22, of Zurrieq, who works in Gozo, were slightly injured but were discharged from hospital.

The youths, old friends who were members of the St Maria Band Club Youth Committee, were returning from a barbecue at Olive Gardens in Rabat.

They had been taken there in a minibus but when it did turn up to take them back they accepted a lift from Mr Cassar in his Vauxhall Astra. The five had all been at the back of the van and were thrown out by the impact as the Astra literally came to pieces.

The Civil Protection Department had the grim task of recovering the bodies and freeing the survivors from the wreckage. Peter Cordina, who heads the department, said one of the victims was thrown eight metres away from the vehicle.

The Astra also hit another car, a Subaru M70, but it has not yet been established whether the collision took place before or after the van hit the wall.

Duty Magistrate Lawrence Quintano appointed a number of referees to help him in his inquiry into the accident.

The young men's families were all in a state of shock yesterday as they received calls by Acting Prime Minister Louis Galea, Archbishop Joseph Mercieca and Opposition Leader Alfred Sant.

David Sacco, who would have been 14 on November 19, was a student at St Joseph Junior Lyceum in Paola. He loved music and his ambition was to become a DJ. He sent his last text message to his mother at 11 p.m. telling her he would not be late.

His parents learned of the accident when they realised their son had not returned home at 3 a.m. and they went to one of his friends' house to see if he was there - only to be greeted by a family in distress. David was the oldest of four siblings.

Fabio Magro was all set to start studying Maltese and Italian at A-level at the Junior College tomorrow. He had been planning to celebrate in Paceville last night.

His parents Joe and Nathalie said Fabio was always smiling... he was crazy about football and played for Malta in Finland when he was 10. He turned 16 last Tuesday.

Mr Magro said that as soon as he saw the police, he realised that his son had died.

He anticipated comments blaming the new road for the accident and said such an argument did not make sense. The road was a good one and accidents did not happen because a road was too good, he said.

Antoinette Abdilla, mother of Marco, recalled that her son had wanted to dress casually for the evening but she convinced him to wear smarter clothes.

He was in his second year at MCAST, where he followed computer studies. He also played the trumpet and loved classical music.

He told his mother that the van would pick them up at around 1.30 a.m. When it got late she did not want to call him so as not to embarrass him with his friends. At 3 a.m. her husband asked if he had returned and when she told him that he hadn't he said he would not allow him to go out again.

Then the police called at 3.15 a.m. and although she realised something was wrong they were only given the bad news by the doctor at hospital.

"I do not know what I shall do without him, he was always laughing and his friends always sought him out," she said.

Marcelle Camilleri, Christian's mother, said she spoke to her son last at 6.30 p.m. just before he left for the barbecue. He asked her to bless him, which she did, and she asked him to be careful.

"It was the only night when I slept without calling him. But I felt he was safe... Two police officers came here at 3 a.m. and they did not know what to tell us. I told them immediately that my son had died."

Mrs Camilleri said it was a shame that when the police called to give families such bad news they were not accompanied by a psychologist.

She said her son was a very good-natured boy, always surrounded by girls.

Christian, who would have celebrated his 18th birthday on October 27, he had just finished his course at MCAST and was looking for a job.

Oswaldo Emanuel Vella, 18, an IT student at the Junior College, was described as a very quiet boy by his mother Josette. She said that she had to push him to speak up, as he was very reserved. But he was always willing to help others and hated fights. Together with his friends he was very involved in church activities and together they had recently formed the new Santa Marija Youth Committee. This was the lad's first outing with the committee.

She said that the family went to bed at around 1 a.m. and they were not worried since they knew exactly where their son was, his father having taken him there at 9 p.m.

"We worry when he goes to Paceville, but our minds were completely at ease yesterday," she said.

The tragic crash shocked the nation and many flags, especially in Qrendi, were at half-mast. The Malta Labour Party cancelled all political events for today. Several organisations issued messages of condolence, including the political parties and Qrendi council.

The five youths' funeral is being held at Qrendi this morning at 10.