Port tunnel evacuated after two trucks crash

DUBLIN PORT Tunnel was evacuated yesterday after two heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) collided in the northbound bore shortly before midday.

The evacuation was complicated by a second emergency, in which a motorist complained of chest pains. Some 40 motorists were stuck in the tunnel for up to two hours.

A spokesman for the National Roads Authority (NRA) said the collision between the lorries happened at 11.41am, roughly under Whitehall church towards the northern portal of the tunnel.

The crash prompted an immediate shutdown of both tunnels and gardaí and fire brigade were notified at 11.42am. The shutdown of the tunnel was completed by 11.43am and the emergency services arrived at 11.50am, according to the NRA.

A spokesman said gardaí asked drivers and their passengers to remain in their cars, as the incident did not require emergency evacuation on foot.

An ambulance had left with one of the lorry drivers when the medical emergency involving the motorist arose and another ambulance was called.

The tunnel operators said motorists were alerted through announcements over a public address system as well as interruptions to all radio station relays in the tunnel.

The NRA spokesman said he could not speculate on what had caused the crash. Lorries are forbidden from passing one another within the tunnel and are required to maintain a distance of three chevrons – painted V-shaped distance markers on the tunnel floor – between each other.

It is expected the tunnel’s video surveillance will show how the crash happened. Gardaí have opened an investigation and the Health and Safety Authority will also hold its own inquiry.

The HGV ban in Dublin city centre was lifted during the closure, which lasted until shortly before 4pm.

Tunnel operators opened the large connecting doors between the north- and southbound bores and following medical attention for the individual with chest pains, the evacuation of motorists began at about 1.10pm and continued until about 2pm.

Public relations specialist and journalist Terry Prone was one of the motorists caught in the tunnel.

Ms Prone said told The Irish Times that the tunnel operators had done “a great safety job, but a lousy communications one”.

She said she could not understand the public address announcements which were “saying nothing understandable”.

Car radio announcements were in a female voice and told motorists to turn off their cars and await further instructions, she said.

“Eventually everybody was told to do a broad U-turn into the southbound carriageway and drive very slowly out at 40km/h, but it was a bit faster than that,” she said.

It is possible for vehicles to cross from one bore to the other through large safety doors, which can be opened in an emergency.