Kerry crash victims lucky to live

TWO young men were seriously injured and a third escaped unhurt when the car in which they were travelling was involved in a dramatic collision on the outskirts of Killarney, Co Kerry, yesterday evening.

They were travelling on the main Cork-Kerry road, in the direction of the town centre, when their Toyota Avensis left the road, clipped a tree and somersaulted a number of times through the air.

The vehicle then burst through a fence and landed upside down in the front garden of a family home.

A garda spokesman said it appears the driver, a young male, lost control of the vehicle before it veered to the left and crashed.

It landed on its roof and it travelled quite a distance through the private garden before it finally came to a stop.

Two of the occupants of the car were removed in separate ambulances to Kerry General Hospital where they were being assessed last night in the A&E department.

The third young man did not require hospital treatment after being examined by emergency services personnel at the scene.

It is understood that all three are from the same housing estate in Killarney.

One eyewitness said it was a miracle that they weren’t all killed in the incident which occurred shortly before 4.30pm at Clasheen, just over 4km from Killarney town.

“I couldn’t believe what happened. It reminded me of nothing but that ad on television when a car somersaults into the garden of the house.

“Thanks be to God they weren’t killed outright and that there were no children playing in the garden,” he said.

The crash occurred just a few kilometers away from the scene of a dreadful early-morning collision that claimed the lives of four young Killarney teenagers, including two brothers, last August.