Woman dies saving her baby

A WOMAN died while saving the life of her three-month-old son yesterday in a horror day on the roads which also claimed the life of a schoolgirl.

Mother-of-two Andrea McGlynn was crossing the main street in Gorey, Co Wexford, pushing her son in a buggy, when she was trapped beneath the back wheels of a truck. She managed to push her son to safety.

The truck was stopped at a set of traffic lights and it is not clear if the truck rolled back before taking off.

A man who arrived at the scene moments later said the victim must have pushed the buggy free as she was hit. The infant was treated at a local medical centre but was reported not to have been injured.

The victim’s husband was at home in the Riverchapel suburb of Courtown about five miles away when the accident happened. The couple also have a four-year-old child.

Ms McGlynn, originally from north Co Dublin, had been living in the area for around five years.

Gardaí have appealed for witnesses to contact them at (055) 30690.

A spokesperson said they are particularly interested in speaking to the driver of a white box-type van travelling in the same direction as the lorry at the time.

The driver of the lorry is believed to be from Dublin and it is understood he may have been travelling to or from Rosslare.

One eyewitness said the town was particularly busy with Christmas shoppers, who could only look on in horror as the tragedy unfolded.

The death came just hours after a Sligo schoolgirl was killed while waiting for a school bus.

Maria Rooney, 16, from Moneygold, Grange, was one of a number of students standing on the main Bundoran to Sligo road when she was hit by a car. She was described by John McLean, principal of Magh Ene College in Bundoran, as a popular and diligent student.

Another teenage girl who was hit by the car was taken to Sligo General Hospital with leg injuries but later discharged.

The driver was also brought to hospital and was questioned by gardaí yesterday evening.

The deaths bring the number of pedestrians killed this year to 62 and total road deaths in 2005 to 380.

This is six more than were killed on the road in 2004, while the number killed this month has reached 19, compared to 34 for all of December last year.