Two adults and an infant child have been killed in a crash in Co Tipperary. Two other adults remain in a serious condition in hospital.
The family members were travelling on a back road having just come off the northbound lane of the M8 near Cashel when the crash happened at around 8.50pm.
Emergency services were alerted to the single vehicle collision and paramedics and firefighters as well as gardaí attended the scene, which is near the Circle K garage off the M8 motorway. Gardaí said the vehicle collided with a wall in the Windmill Knockbulloge area.
A man and a woman were pronounced dead at the scene as paramedics worked to try to save their grandson who suffered serious injuries, but later died.
The child’s parents were rushed by ambulance to South Tipperary General Hospital after sustaining serious injuries in the crash and they both underwent emergency surgery late on Tuesday night.
The road where the crash happened was closed and diversions have been put in place to allow a forensic crash investigator to carry out an examination of the scene on Wednesday morning.
Gardaí have appealed to anyone who may have witnessed the collision, or have dashcam footage that might assist them, to contact Clonmel Garda Station on 052-6177640.
In a statement late on Tuesday night gardaí said the adult male and female who died had been rear-seat passengers.
“An infant boy was also fatally injured during the collision; the body of the infant boy has been taken to Tipperary University Hospital, Clonmel,” gardaí said.
The adult male driver and adult female front-seat passenger were taken to the same hospital where their condition was described as serious.
“An Garda Síochána, Cashel Fire Services and HSE Ambulance Service remain at the scene this evening,” a spokeswoman said on Tuesday night.
“Garda Forensic Collision Investigators (FCI) have been requested to conduct an examination of the scene which will take place [on Wednesday].”
An incident room was set up at Cahir Garda Station and a senior investigating officer was appointed to lead the investigation.
On social media the parish priest of Ardfinnan and Newcastle, Fourmilewater Fr Michael Toomey said, “Our Tipperary county suffers again. Thoughts and prayers for those who have died in tonight’s tragedy in Cashel.”
The crash is the second multiple fatality collision in Co Tipperary inside a week and comes just days after three teenage Leaving Cert students and a 24-year-old man were killed in a crash near Clonmel.
Brother and sister, Luke and Grace McSweeney (18), Nicole Murphy (18) and Zoey Coffey (18) died in the single vehicle crash which happened at Mountain Road in Clonmel at 7.30pm on Friday.
The funerals of the three Leaving Cert friends and Mr McSweeney are due to take place in Clonmel and the nearby village of Kilcash on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
