Man killed in Christmas morning house fire
The 28-year-old was taken from the blaze at his home in Mayfield on Cork’s northside before sunrise on Christmas morning.
The alarm was raised shortly after 6am when a neighbour noticed smoke coming from the house of Terence Porter in Springfield Estate near the Old Youghal Road.
He tried unsuccessfully to enter the house and Mr Porter could not be revived by the emergency services when they arrived at the scene. He was brought to the South Infirmary Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
The two-storey semi-detached house was extensively damaged by the fire, which gardaí said appears to have been accidental. The scene underwent an examination by technical experts before noon yesterday.
Mr Porter was believed to have been living alone and to have been the only person in the house at the time of the fire.
Gardaí last night named the elderly woman knocked down and killed in Ballina, Co Mayo, on Christmas Eve. Emily Gilmartin, 75, from Greenhills estate in Ballina, died in hospital after being hit by a vehicle on the town’s Bunree Road around 9.15pm on Saturday.
An appeal has been issued for anybody who witnessed the incident to contact gardaí in Ballina at 096 21422.
The woman became the 392nd person to die on Irish roads this year, on what was otherwise a quiet weekend for serious road accidents despite the huge numbers travelling home for Christmas.
In Co Waterford, the search for a missing teenager ended in the worst possible circumstances when his body was found washed up on a beach in Dungarvan on Friday evening.
The funeral of 16-year-old Wayne Kelly will take place in the town tomorrow morning.
He had returned from the US earlier this year because he was unable to settle there after moving with his parents and three siblings. He had been living with his grandparents in Dungarvan.
He was last seen alive in the Boreenatra area of the town close to the seafront around 1am on Thursday and concern was raised when items of clothing, identified as his, were found nearby.
Wayne’s body was found on the beach at Lands End in Abbeyside later that evening. It was removed by ambulance to Waterford Regional Hospital where a post-mortem examination was subsequently carried out. An inquest will be held at a later date.
Gardaí have ruled out foul play, describing his death as a great personal tragedy.
