Lorry driver arrested after fatal road crash
Gardaí were last night preparing a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) after releasing him without charge following a day of questioning.
He was arrested and detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act just hours after a man in his mid-30s was killed in the early morning accident on the N20 Cork to Limerick road.
Neil Orchard, from Feargus, Dripsey, Co Cork, and who would have turned 35 next Tuesday, was the sole occupant of a four-wheel drive jeep.
He was driving along a notoriously dangerous stretch of road on the Mallow side of Buttevant, known locally as the “Ballybeg bends”, when the accident occurred at about 6.15am.
Two large lorries, each transporting a huge section of a wind turbine pylon on long trailers, were travelling in convoy in the opposite direction on route from Foynes to Millstreet.
The right side of Mr Orchard’s jeep was completely destroyed after it was in collision with the right side of the lead truck’s trailer.
The jeep’s steering wheel column was among the debris strewn across the road.
Emergency services, including gardaí, a HSE ambulance, and several units of the county fire service based in Mallow, rushed to the scene but Mr Orchard was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was taken to Cork University Hospital for a postmortem examination.
The truck driver was uninjured and was taken to Mallow General Hospital where he was treated for shock. He was arrested later.
The road was closed and diversions were in place for several hours while a Garda road collision investigation team conducted a detailed examination of the scene.
Superintendent Pat McCarthy appealed for anyone who travelled the N20 in the early hours yesterday and who saw the convoy before the accident, or who may have witnessed the actual accident itself, to contact Mallow Garda Station on 022-21105.
Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen said the tragedy highlighted the urgent need for the construction of a new motorway linking Cork and Limerick.
