Ten die in road accidents over weekend

Alison Healy, Suzanne Breen and Elaine Keogh

Alison Healy, Suzanne Breen and Elaine Keogh

Road traffic accidents claimed the lives of five people in the Republic and five in Northern Ireland over the weekend.

Meanwhile, an elderly man died in a house fire in Sligo, while a man was drowned in a Galway lake.

Mr Barry Quinn, (28), a single man from Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, died following a boating accident on Lough Corrib on Saturday afternoon.

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He had been fishing with a friend when they landed on Cannaver, a small island on Lough Corrib, for lunch at about 1.45 p.m. The boat began to drift away from the island, and Mr Quinn swam out to recover it. He got into difficulties and disappeared from sight.

The second man raised the alarm and a search was initiated with the help of locals, Coastguard and Aer Corps helicopters, divers from Galway Sub-Aqua Club and gardaí. The body was recovered by divers at 4 p.m., and taken by Coastguard helicopter to University College Hospital, Galway.

Heavy fog is believed to have been a factor in a collision which claimed the lives of a man and a woman in Co Louth at 7 a.m. yesterday.

The deceased were a 39-year-old Latvian woman and a 37-year-old man from Belarus. The third person in the car, a man, was seriously injured.

All three worked on a mushroom farm. The woman was being driven to Dublin Airport for a holiday. Their car collided with another about two kilometres north of Ardee. Three people, including an off-duty garda, were in the second car and were injured.

Thick fog was also thought to be a factor in the death of a 33-year-old man in Derry yesterday. His van collided with another van on the Glenshane Road, outside Magherafelt. A police officer suffered a leg injury when he was struck by a car as he attended the scene.

On Saturday, a motorcyclist died when he collided with a car on the Gortree Road outside Drumahoe, Co Derry.

Also on Saturday, two men were killed when their car crashed into a derelict stone building in Gortin, Co Tyrone. They were Mr Gerard McCollum (31), from Pinefield, Omagh, and Mr Patrick Boyle (39), from Lisaharney Road in the town.

The driver had to be cut from the wreckage, and was still in a critical condition in hospital last night.

A 33-year-old man died in a road collision in Mallow, Co Cork, at 5.05 p.m. on Saturday. Mr Michael Buckley, from Clondrohid, Macroom, was riding a motorbike when he was involved in a collision with a car at Dromagh.

At 6 a.m. on the same day, a man died in a single-vehicle accident at Newtown, Donard, Co Wicklow.

Mr Thomas Blake (22), from Donard, was a front-seat passenger in the car. He was brought by ambulance to Naas General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The driver of the car was also brought to the hospital, but his condition was described as "not serious".

Gardaí have named a 74-year-old pedestrian who died in a road accident on Friday afternoon.

He was Mr Mr Peter Shevlin, of Castleblayney, Co Monaghan. Mr Shevlin died after being struck by a lorry on Main Street, Castleblayney, at 2. 15 p.m.

Meanwhile, a 43-year-old man who was struck by a vehicle on the Glen Road in west Belfast last Thursday has died from his injuries. Police named him as Mr James McLoughlin.

In Sligo, an 86-year-old man died in a house fire at Charlotte Street at midnight on Saturday. His body was removed to Sligo General Hospital, and the house was preserved for technical examination.