Three-year-old girl dies in Limerick motorway crash

A three-year old girl has died and her twin brother has been injured in a crash on the M20 near Patrickswell, Co Limerick this evening.

The little boy is understood to have sustained minor head and facial injuries has been taken to University Hospital Limerick where his condition is believed to be stable.

The children’s parents were also in the car at the time of the crash and are being treated in hospital for minor injuries and shock.

While the exact cause of the crash is unclear, it is understood the vehicle the family was travelling in swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle from the opposite side of the motorway which had mounted the road’s central reservation before striking steel barriers.

After swerving the car carrying the family turned over.

Emergency services treated the girl at the scene and she was transferred to University Hospital Limerick where she was pronounced dead.

The crash happened at around 5pm.

There were at least two people in the second car that struck the central reservation but no one in this car was seriously injured.

Diversions are in place as both the northbound and southbound lanes of the motorway are closed between the Adare and Patrickswell interchanges.