FORTY schoolchildren were taken to two hospitals in Limerick yesterday following a collision between a bus and a lorry on the main Limerick-Killaloe road.
One of the children, Louise Shinners (14), of Clonlara, Co Clare, was in a critical condition in the Regional Hospital, Limerick, last evening.
The bus driver, Mr Patrick Keane (55), of Corbally, Limerick, and 27 children were discharged from the Regional Hospital after treatment for cuts and bruises caused mainly by flying glass. Thirteen children who were taken to St John's Hospital were also discharged. There were 48 children on the bus
The accident happened shortly before 9 a.m. when a bus going to Killaloe and a fully-loaded gravel lorry crashed about six miles from Limerick, near the Clonlara junction. The driver of the lorry, Mr Donie Ryan, of Upper Church, Tipperary, was not injured.
A spokesman for Bus Eireann in Limerick said the side of the bus was torn away from a quarter way back, and all the windows on the right side were broken.
The children are all from the Limerick-Clare border area and were on their way to St Anne's Community College, Killaloe.
The main road was blocked for some time in the morning while gardai from Killaloe investigated the accident,