Woman dies of injuries from fall

A 31-year-old South African woman, who suffered serious head injuries when she fell down the stairs of her apartment in Limerick at the weekend, has died in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital.

And a young man died yesterday morning following an accident on a construction site in Westport in Co Mayo on the previous afternoon.

The dead woman was named as Lynne Catherine Hunter, believed to be from Burbon in South Africa, who had been working in Limerick for the past few weeks.

She apparently fell down the stairs in her apartment at Ballantyne Place, Steamboat Quay, early on Sunday morning.

Ms Hunter worked as a nail technician at The Nail Shop in Arthur’s Quay Shopping Centre for the past eight weeks.

It is understood she was returning from a Christmas party when she slipped and fell down the stairs of her apartment. She had been on a life support machine since being admitted to hospital.

Gerard O’Brien, 37, of Castleconnell, Co Limerick, also died after a fall down a stairs at his home in Patrick Villas late on Saturday night.

This is the second tragedy to hit the family as Mr O’Brien’s brother Noel died eight years ago at the age of 21.

Meanwhile, the Health and Safety Authority has begun an investigation into a building site accident on Monday in Westport in which a young man died.

The man was named yesterday as Gary Lynott, 20, the youngest of a family of six, from Ballina Road, Crossmolina.

He was working on a ladder at an extension to the Allergan plant on the Castlebar Road at around 2.30p.m. when he fell eight feet to the ground and was seriously injured.

The construction company, MJ Conroy and Sons, has expressed its sympathy to the family of the deceased man.

The company immediately closed the construction site and launched an investigation.