Girl, four, killed and nine others injured in tragic crash

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD-GIRL was killed and nine other people injured, two seriously, in a major pile-up involving a rigid truck and three cars near Adare, Co Limerick, yesterday.

The dead girl’s grandmother and great grandmother were in a stable condition at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick last night, having earlier been described as critical.

The child’s twin sister suffered minor injuries and was awaiting discharge from the hospital as was the truck

driver and the rest of the people involved in the lunchtime accident.

The parents of the dead girl were not involved in the crash but were travelling from their home in Dublin to Limerick after hearing the tragic news yesterday evening.

Most of the victims are from the Dublin area and were returning home from holidays in Kerry at the time of the accident.

“It was a horrific scene with wreckage scattered over a wide area,” said Frank Dennison, Co Limerick acting chief fire officer. Gardaí are investigating reports that two of the wrecked cars were struck from behind in the pile-up.

It is believed the girl who died was travelling in a wine Opel Astra, which was extensively damaged at the back.

The names of the girl who died and those injured were not being released by gardaí last night.

Gardaí at Askeaton and Adare are investigating the cause of the accident, which happened at about 12.45pm at the Ballingarry junction on the outskirts of the village of Adare on the main Limerick-Killarney road. There were traffic tailbacks of more than two miles as the road was blocked for almost two hours.

Gardaí believe the four vehicles were travelling in the same direction.

“This was a tragic accident for everyone involved, especially the parents of the dead girl, and our sympathies go out to the families of the dead and injured,’’ said Sergeant Vincent McCoy of Askeaton garda station.

Mr Dennison said: “The little girl who died was sitting in the rear passenger seat of one of the cars and there were three other people in the vehicle, two of whom were seriously injured. There was a husband and wife and child suffering from severe shock in another car.”

Four units from Newcastle West and Rathkeale fire brigades rushed to the scene at 12.50pm.

Firemen had to use special equipment to free people from the wrecked vehicles.

The girl who died and the nine injured people were ferried by five ambulances to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.