Nurse tried to save husband crushed by truck

THE wife of a man, who was crushed to death in a weekend truck accident, tried to resuscitate him in his final moments.

Mairead O’Sullivan made the desperate attempt to save her husband Tom’s life after she found him beneath a truck at their home in Coolbawn, Co Tipperary, on Saturday morning.

Mr O’Sullivan, 45, a father of four children, had been working beneath the vehicle before the supports it was resting on became unstable and collapsed on him at about 12.30pm.

His wife Mairead, a nurse at Nenagh General Hospital, kept her husband alive by providing CPR as paramedics rushed to the scene.

As they arrived, the medical team saw the seriousness of the injuries and immediately called for an Irish Coast Guard helicopter ambulance to be scrambled to transport the businessman to the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.

However, despite the act cutting the normally hour-long journey to the facility to just eight minutes, the businessman tragically lost his life before reaching the hospital.

A builder by trade, Mr O’Sullivan owned a public house in Borrisokane for several years and was well known in the community, with parish priest Fr Michael Cooney explaining that the area has been left “numbed” by the death.

“This is an awful tragedy for any parish. People are naturally shocked and saddened by this terrible accident but people are also really numbed by it,” said Fr Cooney.

“Thomas was very well known in the community and was a great man.

“He unselfishly gave of his time and was involved in many community projects,” he added.

While a postmortem examination is not due to take place until later today, gardaí at Borrisokane have confirmed that two investigations into the incident have been launched.

Officers have already visited the scene for technical examinations, while an inspector from the Health and Safety Authority is due to travel to the area over the next 24 hours as part of the safety group’s investigation.