Two dead after head-on collision

A BUILDER who celebrated his 60th birthday last weekend was one of two men who died in an early morning crash in Co Kerry yesterday.

The head-on collision involving two builders' vehicles, occurred on a sweeping bend at Tulligbeg, near Killorglin, at around 7.30am.

Driver Timmy O'Shea, a father of five grown-up children, died at the scene. He was alone in his pick-up truck.

Last night, one of six injured men travelling in the second vehicle died in Tralee General Hospital. The man, believed to be the driver, was not named. He was in his 40s. The men were all employed by McAllen Construction Co.

The roadway was closed yesterday for several hours while emergency services attended the scene.

Mr O'Shea, from Glenbeigh, was travelling in the direction of Killorglin.

The injured men in the second vehicle included two front seat passengers and three seated in the body of the enclosed vehicle. The conditions of four of the injured, who remained in hospital overnight, were described as being stable.

Six ambulances and a number of units of the fire brigade from Killorglin and Killarney attended the scene. Local councillor Michael Cahill extended his sympathy to the family of the victims and called for immediate improvements to the Ring of Kerry section of the road on which the accident occurred.

Gardaí were trying to contact one of Mr O'Shea's daughters, who is travelling in India.

Garda Inspector Michael O'Donovan has appealed for witnesses. He said the accident scene was not a designated blackspot but that there had been a number of accidents at the bend where the crash occurred.

The tragedy brought to 24 the number of road death fatalities this year.

Last night, heartbroken dad Con Downes and relatives maintained a bedside vigil for his seven-year-old son, Conor, at the Cork University Hospital following Thursday's horror crash in South Tipperary in which four family members died. His condition last night remained critical.

The removal of the remains of grandmother Mary Dalton, her married daughters Mary Downes and Kathleen Quish, along with toddler Robbie Downes, takes place tomorrow evening from Mitchelstown to Ballindangan Church.

Meanwhile, the condition of a lorry driver admitted to Cork University Hospital following the pile-up on the Cork-Dublin road near Cahir was described as stable.