Two men killed in motorbike crashes

Two motorcyclists died in accidents on Irish roads yesterday.

Gardaí were last night trying to identify a man who died when his motorbike ploughed into a wall on the main Cork to Killarney road around 5.15pm last night.

The man, who was travelling on the N22 from Macroom towards Ballincollig, died instantly when his bike smashed at high speed into the entrance wall of a John A Wood quarry complex at Garryhesta, Ovens.

His body remained at the scene for several hours and a section of road was closed as a garda forensics team conducted an investigation.

Gardaí were using the bike’s registration number to trace its owner and hopefully identify the victim.

Supt Con Cadogan issued an appeal for witnesses — who may have seen the bike in the moments before the crash or a man standing next to a motorbike at the quarry entrance between 4.30pm and 5.15pm — to contact Ballincollig gardaí on tel: [phone].

Earlier in Co Wicklow, at around 1.50pm, a 50-year- old motorcyclist died in a collision involving two motorbikes and a car on the R755 at Ballinastoe near Roundwood. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

A second male motorcyclist and the male driver of the car both suffered non- life-threatening injuries and were taken by ambulance to St Vincent’s Hospital.

Gardaí also appealed for witnesses to this collision to come forward.

The deaths brought to 177 the total number of people who have died on Irish roads so far this year — 25 more than for the same period last year.