British tourist dies in West Cork motorbike crash

Biker pronounced dead at scene after descending from Cousane Gap outside Bantry

A 68-year-old British tourist died after his motorcycle went out of control and hit a fence in West Cork earlier today.

The man, from Buckinghamshire, was travelling from Bantry towards Crookstown on the R585 Bantry Line when he crashed while descending from the Cousane Gap at about 11am.

The biker’s son, who was following on a second motorbike, raised the alarm. Emergency services were quickly on the scene but the tourist was pronounced dead at the scene.

The man’s body was removed to Cork University Hospital, where a postmortem is expected to be performed on Friday. The man’s name has not been released until all next of kin are notified.

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Forensic investigator

The road has been closed and diversions put in place to allow a Garda forensic crash investigator carry out an examination of the scene, which is at a left hand descending bend.

The latest death brings to 14 the number of people killed on Cork roads this year and follows the death of a 36-year-old van driver at Rathduff on the Cork-Mallow road at the weekend.

Michael Jewitt, a father-of-two from Doneraile, was fatally injured when a van he was driving was in collision with an ambulance on the N20, just north of Rathduff village, at about 1.55am on June 6th.

Barry Roche

Barry Roche

Barry Roche is Southern Correspondent of The Irish Times