Five people died tragically in Cork city and county over the weekend. Three holiday-makers living in south-east London, originally natives of West Cork, were killed when the car in which they were travelling overturned at Ilen Bridge on the Bantry side of Drimoleague, west Cork, shortly after 6 p.m. on Saturday evening. They were in their 60s.
According to the Garda in Bantry the car went out of control on the narrow bridge, overturned and landed roof down in a stream. However, it was some five hours before the alarm was raised and help brought to the scene.
The dead are Mr Jeremiah Crowley and his wife, Ms Ellen Pauline Crowley, of Oakley Drive, London, and a near-neighbour, Ms Ellen Lynch, originally of Main Street, Ballineen, in west Cork.
Their companion on the holiday to west Cork was Ms Mary Taylor, also in her 60s. She was being treated last night in the intensive care unit of Bantry General Hospital.
Mr Robert O'Leary (27), a car mechanic, of Kilumney, Ovens, Co Cork, was killed instantly on Saturday while working in a garage at Dripsey, Co Cork. It is understood he was hit by a door which swung open in heavy wind and knocked him over, causing him to fall into the path of a heavy lorry which was reversing at the time.
The fifth death occurred at Colmcille Avenue, Mayfield, in Cork city, where a birthday party was going on. According to Garda sources, the party, for an 18-yearold, was in full swing when a fire broke out. The Garda, as well as units of the Cork Fire Brigade, were alerted.
But, according to a fire brigade officer, when they reached the scene the house was already engulfed in flames. He said five people who had been attending the party told officers that a sixth person, Mr David McCarthy (30), of Colmcille Avenue, was still in the house.
Despite intense heat and smoke, members of the fire brigade searched the house, using breathing apparatus, and located Mr McCarthy's body in an upstairs bedroom of the two-storey house.
Those who managed to flee were treated later at Cork University Hospital for smoke inhalation. They were said not to be in any danger.
The death toll is one of the highest recorded in Cork in recent years in a single weekend.