More than 160 witnesses traced by PSNI in Saint Patrick's Day crush horror investigation

Giving an update on the police investigation, Police Service of Northern Ireland Detective Chief Superintendent Raymond Murray said CCTV footage indicated that around 400 people were outside the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, at the time of the incident on Sunday night.

READ: More could have died outside St Patrick's Day crush disco, say police

He urged young people to come forward, insisting police are not primarily concerned if they were underage and attempting to enter a licensed premises.

"I want to thank everyone who has spoken with us so far, however, there is still a significant number of people who were there that night, in the queue, and I need them to come forward to speak to police so we can understand what happened," said Mr Murray.

"Initial CCTV viewing would lead us to estimate that perhaps as many as 400 people were in the queue or car park at that time."

Mr Murray said officers had already spoken to a number of young witnesses from the 160 identified so far.

"A number of parents have indicated they are concerned that their children, who may have been underage, were trying to enter a licensed premises," he said.

"I want to reassure you, the focus of our investigation is not the age of people who were at the event - it is about trying to find answers for the families of the three teenagers who tragically died - we need to know what you saw so the heartbroken families of Connor, Lauren and Morgan know what happened to their children."

"I would urge parents to talk with your children, support them and encourage them to come forward and tell their story to police so we can get an accurate picture of events that night.

"Talk to your children, reassure them - we know they may be scared - but again I can assure you we are only interested in establishing what happened. Their account of events on Sunday night could be crucial to establishing how Connor, Lauren and Morgan died."

Mr Murray said more could have died in the incident.

"We are fortunate that we are looking at three deaths, we could absolutely have been looking at more," he said.

He praised those in the crowd who helped get people back on their feet.

Mr Murray said some people were concerned about "slightly underage" children coming forward to help with the investigation.

He said Northern Ireland's Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Herron had agreed that it would not be an issue in this investigation.

"The absolute focus in this investigation is about finding out how three teenagers came to die on what should have been a celebration," Mr Murray added.

Eboney Johnston, 16, was outside the hotel on Sunday evening.

She said: "People just started to fall but as one person fell another went down.

"As a person went to lift another person up they were pushing and shoving and another person would fall, which caused a build-up of everybody lying there."

She added: "We looked down and you could just see everybody lying there and then you could just see Connor himself being took out.

"It was just such a tragic situation.

"We are just all so lucky that it was not any of us.

"We nearly feel guilty because it was not us, we nearly feel bad, the families, what they are going through, it is awful."