Three girls recall car’s fatal plunge into icy river

Three tearful teenage girls gave graphic details of the night they were trapped in a car rapidly filling with icy water after it plunged upside down into a river while they were being driven to a disco.

Rebecca Langan, 14, from Currabaggan, Knockmore; Kate McLoughlin, 14, from Cloghans, Ballina; and Carrie McAndrew, 13, from Belgarrow, Foxford, all Co Mayo, escaped the river plunge which occurred near their homes on Dec 9 last.

But their close friend, Rachel Herbert, 15, and her mother Sandra Herbert, 40, an employee of the Road Safety Authority in Ballina, died in the incident.

The survivors had been in the rear seat of the Toyota Avensis driven by Ms Herbert to a disco in Ardagh Community Centre.

Kate McLoughlin told the inquest, conducted by the coroner for north Mayo, Dr Eleanor Fitzgerald, that they were driving along at a normal speed when the car skidded and it seemed Ms Herbert “lost control of the steering and the car was moving over and back”.

“I heard Sandra screaming. I think the car rumbled and I remember going round and round like in a tumble drier.

“When I say the car was tumbling, I mean it was tumbling down into the river. There was a big splash. I did not realise the car was on its roof in the river.

“Water started coming in. To me it looked like Sandra had fallen over on Rachel. I must have had a blackout because when I woke up, I was lying on the back passenger door on the driver’s side. I could see a light shining and I could see Sandra’s face. She was under water and I was as well.

“I remember when I woke up I tried to pull Sandra’s head out of the water. I was pulling at her hair but could not move her.

“I heard Rebecca and Carrie screaming so I started screaming. I could see Sandra but could not see Rachel. Sandra was not making any sound. I was freezing cold.”

With the light of a mobile phone, Kate McLoughlin found a switch which unlocked the door and all three managed to escape from the vehicle and raise the alarm in a nearby house.

Rebecca Langan told the inquest: “I could feel the sensation of just like the car in the RSA ad which we had at school when the car flips over.”

She said the three were in water up their waists. As they were trying to get onto the road all they had to hold onto was nettles and thorns. They couldn’t hear anything from Sandra or Rachel. They could just hear the ticking of the indicators and the lights were on.

“It felt surreal,” Rebecca added.

Evidence was given by rescuers who arrived on the scene that both mother and daughter were dead when taken from the upturned vehicle and efforts to resuscitate them failed. Rescuer Ian Kelly, a garda living locally, said the road where the crash took place was “a notorious frost pocket” and there had been several crashes there over the years.

After skidding, the car dropped three metres upside down into 57 centimetres of water.

Garda Inspector Joe Doherty said both air and ground temperatures in the area were below zero at the time of the crash. The driver losing control in black ice was the primary cause of the tragedy, he stated.

Pathologist Dr Fadel Bennani, who carried out postmortems, said there were no injuries to either body and the cause of death in both cases was asphyxia due to drowning.

An inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental deaths with icy roads a contributory factor.