Traffic tailbacks after 3 accidents

THIRTEEN cars and a bus carrying schoolchildren were involved in three separate accidents on main roads near Cork city yesterday, which resulted in significant tailbacks.

The first accident occurred at 7.30am when eight cars were involved in a pile-up on the flyover at the Kinsale Road roundabout.

A few minutes later another accident, this time involving three cars, occurred nearby.

A Garda spokesman said that while there was a lot of material damage reported, fortunately no serious injuries resulted from either of the crashes.

However, the accidents led to lengthy rush-hour tailbacks and it took the emergency services nearly an hour-and-a-half to clear the scene.

At about 8.15am, a school bus carrying children from Glanmire to St Aloysius College, Carrigtwohill, was involved in another accident which also involved two cars.

The accident occurred on the main Cork-Midleton road, near the turn off to Little Island.

Emergency services were quickly on the scene.

The children were taken on board another bus and ferried to St Aloysius College where, as a precaution, they were checked out by a local doctor.

Only very minor injuries were reported.

A Garda spokeswoman said they had spoken to a number of witnesses at the scene and were completing their investigation.

Again, long tailbacks were encountered as emergency services cleared the scene of wreckage.