Seven die in three accidents on Irish roads

Three men were killed and one was seriously injured when the car they were travelling in collided with a lorry in Co Wicklow …

Three men were killed and one was seriously injured when the car they were travelling in collided with a lorry in Co Wicklow yesterday evening.

The deaths brought the number of fatalities on Irish roads during the day to seven. Earlier, three people with learning difficulties died in Co Antrim when their minibus hit a truck, while another man was killed in a two-car collision in Wexford.

The Wicklow accident happened on the Aughrim to Woodenbridge road shortly before 6 p.m. The four occupants of the car, all thought to be in their early 20s and from Arklow, were travelling towards Arklow.

Firemen from Arklow and Tinahely had to cut the roof and side off the car to remove the bodies, while the injured passengers were taken out through the boot. They were brought to Loughlinstown Hospital in Co Dublin, where a spokeswoman declined to give details of their condition.

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A firemen described the accident as "horrific". The fatalities take the total of road deaths in the Republic this month to 35, and to 369 for the year.

In the North, a man was arrested after the minibus collision, which took place outside a petrol station about one mile on the Co Antrim side of the village of Toomebridge, on the Belfast-Derry road, at about 2.20 p.m.

Those who died were all adults with learning difficulties from the nearby Three Trees nursing home, 10 of whom were travelling in the minibus along with the driver and a care worker. Two died at the scene and one on the way to hospital. Two more were seriously injured. All those in the minibus, as well as the driver of the lorry, were treated at Antrim Area Hospital. Those who survived the crash were later said to be stable although they remained overnight for observation.

Eyewitnesses said the crash happened after an articulated lorry left Hegarty's garage at the side of the road. Mr Peter Doran said the lorry "skited the side of the minibus which rolled onto its side".

The PSNI also said it was believed the lorry had struck the minibus. Police said they had arrested a 40-year-old from Derry for dangerous driving causing death in connection with the incident. They also said they were seeking to speak to the driver of a red car who had taken one casualty to hospital.

After the collision, the minibus slid along the side of the road, crashing partly through a wall. The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service praised the actions of a number of motorists and passers-by who gave assistance.

Mr Doran said those at the scene managed to extract all but two of the casualties, including one in a wheel-chair, from the minibus, before seven ambulances arrived. In some cases knives were used to cut through seat belts which had wrapped around the throats of those in the bus, he said.

The crash caused five-mile delays on the northbound carriageway with drivers of heavy goods vehicles being diverted. The DUP assembly member for Mid-Ulster, the Rev William McCrea, described the accident as a "terrible tragedy".

"This is an appalling incident. My thoughts and prayers just go out to the families of those killed and everyone involved in this terrible tragedy," he said.

The SDLP assembly member for South Antrim, Mr Donovan McClelland, said the accident was "all the more shocking as it involved people with learning disabilities".

Meanwhile, a male driver was killed yesterday when his car hit another vehicle on the Enniscorthy to New Ross road in Co Wexford at about 6 a.m. The dead man, whose name has yet to be released, was removed to Ardkeen Hospital in Waterford for a post-mortem.

The driver of the second vehicle, also male, was injured and taken to the same hospital.

Four people were in a critical condition early today after their car crashed on the Lucan road near the Spawell Hotel shortly after 1.30 a.m. They were taken to Tallaght Hospital, St James's Hospital and James Connolly Memorial Hospital.