Treacherous road conditions may have been the cause of a road accident in Co Carlow early yesterday morning which claimed the lives of three men from Co Kilkenny. A BMW car went out of control, struck a tree and crashed into a field.
No other vehicle was involved in the accident.
The three victims, all from the parish of Paulstown-Goresbridge, were named as Mr John Hanlon (38), of Viewmount, Goresbridge; Mr Luke Byrne (64), from Garryduff, Paulstown; and Mr Thomas Healy, who was in his forties and also from Garryduff, Paulstown.
Mr Byrne and Mr Healy were local farmers while Mr Hanlon was home from England for the Christmas holidays. He worked as a contractor in heavy machinery in England.
The three men were travelling in Mr Hanlon's BMW car when the single-vehicle accident took place at about 3 a.m. yesterday. It happened at Cloghna, on the main N9 Carlow-Kilkenny road, about three miles from Carlow town.
It is understood that the car was travelling in the Carlow direction at the time. It went out of control, struck a tree and ended up in a field. The car was spotted some time later by a passing motorist, who raised the alarm.
The bodies of the three men, all of whom were single, were moved to the morgue at the District Hospital in Carlow.
News of the fatalities caused deep sadness in the parish of Paulstown-Goresbridge. The local parish priest, Father Jim O'Connell, said yesterday that it had been his sad duty to convey the news of the tragedy to the families of the dead men in the early hours of yesterday morning.