Graduate walks from crash ‘just covered in mud’

A YOUNG award-winning history graduate who was returning from Belfast after a volunteer training programme miraculously walked away from the horror crash “just covered in muck” and with only minor injuries.

Dónal Walsh, from St John’s Hill in Waterford city, was one of just two people to leave the wreckage relatively unharmed.

The 22-year-old University College Cork (UCC) graduate was last night recovering at Cork University Hospital (CUH).

However, his father, John Walsh, confirmed he escaped the doomed flight with minor injuries.

“He was traumatised and covered in muck and so on but I just got a text and we don’t think he suffered any serious injuries.

“You look at the scene and you don’t know how anyone could have survived.

“I don’t know if he was thrown from the aircraft or what but it did appear that the pilot was under severe pressure to land at the airport,” he explained.

He studied history at UCC from 2007 until he graduated last year, when he received the Mansion House Fund Scholarship in Irish History.

He was returning from Belfast yesterday after attending a three-day training course with IFES Ireland — a Christian Unions group.

The organisation’s director, Adam Jones, said he received a reassuring text message from Dónal shortly after the incident which read: ‘I am fine with very minor injuries, all things considered’.

Mr Jones added that the group’s “thoughts and prayers remain with the families of those who lost their lives, the others injured and those dealing with the aftermath of the crash.”

Mr Walsh is understood to be currently working for the IFES Ireland: The Christian Unions organisation as an intern at its UCC and Cork Institute of Technology branches.

Leaving Cork University Hospital, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said he had spoken with two survivors who walked away from the wreckage and who remained under medical observation.

“They are in good spirits and they are obviously very grateful for the care they are receiving here at the hospital,” he said.

Dónal comes from a renowned Fine Gael family who, along with a brother, helps his father John to analyse votes at the count from the city during election time.

A former student at Waterpark College on the banks of the River Suir at Park Road in the city, Dónal played soccer with Villa FC and tennis at St Anne’s Tennis Club on St John’s Hill — near the city centre.