TWO YOUNG cousins were killed in a road crash in Co Limerick early yesterday.
Michelle Collins, who was in her early 20s and from Salvia Court, Southill, Limerick, and 18-year-old Ger Hehir, Raheen Square, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick, were both travelling in an 04 Toyota Corolla when the single vehicle crash occurred at 6.45am yesterday.
The crash took place on the main Dromkeen to Pallasgreen road in Co Limerick when the car hit a ditch. Gardaí have not yet established who has driving the car.
Ms Collins was pronounced dead at the scene. Her first cousin, who only recently turned 18, was taken by ambulance to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Dooradoyle, where he later died.
The cousins had been socialising on Thursday night on the southside of Limerick city. They were travelling in the direction of Tipperary town when the fatal crash occurred. The main road from Limerick to Tipperary was closed to traffic for several hours yesterday morning and diversions were in place.
Gardaí at Bruff, Co Limerick, are investigating the crash and are appealing to anyone who may have seen it to contact them.
Last February, Mr Hehir’s two brothers, Joe and Darren were both injured in shootings in Limerick city in separate incidents.
Ms Collins’s uncle, Jimmy Collins, was also targeted in a shooting last month and in April of last year he suffered an injury to his leg when he was shot at 14 times near his home in Weston.