Irish backpacker killed by out-of-control car in Cairns

A 23-YEAR-OLD Irish backpacker has been killed in Australia after the driver of a car suffered a seizure, lost control of the vehicle and ploughed into the man as he sat on a bench.

Donal Bolton, from Co Offaly was sitting with his 22-year-old girlfriend in a pedestrianised zone in the north Queensland city of Cairns when the Nissan car suddenly veered towards them mounted a curb and landed on the young man. His girlfriend escaped with leg injuries. Paramedics were on the scene quickly, but were unable to save him and he died at the scene.

Witnesses said the 33-year-old driver was found to be “frothing at the mouth with his eyes rolling back into his head”. It later emerged that he had been treated for a medical condition in a nearby hospital shortly before the accident, leading investigators to believe that he might have had a seizure and collapsed at the wheel. He was also taken to hospital with chest injuries.

Mr Bolton’s girlfriend, whose family live in Durrow, not far from his home in Ballinagar, was able to contact her family who then travelled to his home to notify his parents.

It is understood the couple had been together for five years and had spent the last 12 months touring around Australia. They had been only been in Cairns for one night. They were to travel home before the end of month to celebrate his 24th birthday on January 31.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and members of the dead man’s family living in Australia were working both to support his girlfriend and make arrangements to have his remains repatriated to Ireland.

Monsignor Tom Coonan, local priest in the Ballinagar area, said the family was in deep shock. “It’s very sad, it’s a huge tragedy.”

Meanwhile, a Galway woman found dead on January 2 while holidaying in Cameroon is understood to have died of natural causes. Laura Thornton who was single and in her 30s had been travelling alone in the Yaounda region.

Her body is expected to be repatriated later this week.