‘We heard a dull thud and feared it was an explosion’

CHAOS erupted in the capital’s main thoroughfare at just before 3pm yesterday after a Luas tram crashed into the side of a bus.

One eyewitness described the initial impact as making the street reverberate with a “low dull thud”. His immediate fear that it might have been an explosion was allayed when he saw scores of people hurrying to the intersection of Abbey Street and O’Connell Street, where the vehicles had collided.

Within minutes four fire brigade units and scores of gardaí were at the scene assisting passengers, many of them in shock as they tumbled out of the derailed tram and bus.