GARDAÍ IN Cork have opened investigations into two car crashes which claimed the lives of three men over the weekend and left another two in a critical condition in hospital.
Gardaí from Douglas began an investigation into a three-car collision early yesterday on the main Cork to Carrigaline road, which claimed the lives of two Estonian men.
Earlier, gardaí in Carrigaline began an investigation into a single-vehicle crash at Bridgemount in the town at about 5.30am on Saturday in which a 21-year-old Cork city man was killed.
Yesterday’s double fatal crash happened when the Estonians’ BMW was in collision with a Toyota Avensis on the Cork to Carrigaline road at Carr’s Hill about two miles from Douglas at around 6.30am.
The driver of the BMW and a rear passenger, both in their mid-20s and living in Dublin, were killed in the collision and pronounced dead at the scene.
A front-seat female passenger and two other male passengers, all in their mid-20s and living in Dublin, were were also injured in the collision.
All three were taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where the conditions of the two male passengers was described as critical while the female passenger was said to be stable.
It is understood that the five Estonians had checked out of the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork city at about 6am and that they had been travelling towards Carrigaline when the collision occurred.
They had just overtaken a garda in his mid-30s, travelling in his own Renault Laguna to work in Carrigaline, when they were in collision with the Toyota which was heading towards Cork city.
The 42-year-old driver of the Toyota, who is from Carrigaline, ended up in a field while the garda’s car hit a ditch and overturning following what is believed to have been an impact with the BMW.
A spokesman for the Garda Ombudsman’s office said that they had been notified by gardaí of the crash because one of those injured and involved in the collision was a member of An Garda Síochána.
The Garda Ombudsman team had begun a preliminary investigation into the crash and would review their position upon completion of that preliminary investigation.
Meanwhile, gardaí, who had closed off the road for almost 10 hours to allow Garda forensic crash investigators examine the scene, later removed all three vehicles for examination by a PSV inspector.
Meanwhile, Carrigaline gardaí were continuing with their investigation into a crash which claimed the life of 21-year-old Timmy Hayes from Ash Road, Fota Rock, Carrigtwohill.
Mr Hayes was the driver of an Audi which went out of control and hit a pole at Bridgemount just off the Carrigaline Link Road at around 5.30am on Saturday.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr Hayes and four others were returning to Cork city when the crash happened and the four others, three men and a woman all in their early 20s, were brought to Cork University Hospital.
The four, who included two other men from Mahon, a man from Grenagh in north Cork and a woman from Carrigaline were not seriously injured in the incident.