Four young Polish nationals were killed when the vehicle in which they were travelling collided with a truck moments after they had rounded a bend on the incorrect side of the road, an inquest into their deaths was told yesterday.
Sylwester Szczyrow (25), Andrzej Wojciechowski (27), Radoslaw Nowak (23) and Rafal Gorski (28) all died almost instantly when their left-hand-drive Opel Astra car driven by Mr Szczyrow was in collision with a truck at Goggins Hill, Ballinhassig, Co Cork.
Yesterday, the driver of the truck, Con Duggan (35), Mount Pleasant, Bandon, told how he was approaching O'Callaghan's Fireplaces on the old Cork-Bandon Road when the incident happened at about 10.20pm on April 14th last. "I was driving on my own side of the road . . . I was going at a moderate speed. As I came around a gradual bend, I saw a car approach me . . .
"It seemed to be approaching at quite a lively speed. I then saw it was on my side of the road. My reaction was to go to my right to avoid a head-on collision. I braked. The car swerved back to its correct side of the road.
"I swerved sharply back to my side of the road but unfortunately there was a severe impact," said Mr Duggan who extended his sympathies to the families of the four men who were all from Pisz in northeast Poland but had been living in Ballincollig, Co Cork.
Earlier, a friend of the four dead men, Justyna Krystjaniak told the inquest in Bandon how she had gone to a party at 42 Parknamore Rise in Ballincollig on the night of April 13th last but that the driver of the car, Mr Szczyrow, had left at midnight.
A group of them had slept in a tent in the garden and got up again about 2pm on April 14th but Mr Szczyrow had only one small beer and when they returned to her house at Longrange, Ballincollig at about 9.30pm, Mr Szczyrow did not have a drink with the others.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said autopsies showed that neither Mr Szczyrow nor rear right seat passenger Mr Nowak had any alcohol in their blood while the other two men, Mr Gorski and Mr Wojciechowski, had shown 111mgs and 131mgs of alcohol respectively.
Dr Bolster said Mr Szczyrow died from multiple injuries while Mr Gorksi and Mr Nowak both died from haemorrhage and shock due to tearing of the aorta. Mr Wojciechowski died from brain injuries due to contusion, brain swelling and laceration.
All of the victims died almost instantly.
The jury returned verdicts of accidental death in all four cases and coroner for south Cork Frank O'Connell, along with jury foreman Robert Deane and Insp Brendan Fogarty on behalf of An Garda Síochána, extended their sympathies to the families of the deceased.
Afterwards, Mr Nowak's brother, Jacek, paid tribute to the gardaí, in particular Garda Declan Lynch who investigated the crash and the other emergency services who attended as well as to the people of Ballincollig for their support.