Three killed in accidents over bank holiday weekend

A man was killed and three people were injured after a van collided with an ambulance in Co Cork in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The accident happened on the main N20 Cork-Mallow road just before 2am. It is understood the van was travelling north on the road and the ambulance was travelling towards Cork City when the two collided.

The driver of the van, a man in his 30s, was declared dead at the scene. His body was taken to Cork University Hospital where a postmortem was to take place.

The female driver of the ambulance, her male colleague and a male patient were also taken to CUH with, what were described as, non-life threatening injuries.

The road was closed for a number of hours to allow for a technical and forensic examination of the scene by garda forensic collision investigators.

Gardai appealed for any witnesses to contact Mallow Garda Station on 022-31450.

That was the third fatal accident over the bank holiday weekend.

On Sunday afternoon a man in his early 70s died after the car in which he was travelling alone collided with another car at Fortmoy Cross in Borrisokane, Co Tipperary, at approximately 5.15pm.

The victim was last night named as Dr John Waldron, a Galway doctor who was well known in horse- racing circles as the breeder of Championship Hurdle winner Faugheen.

The female driver of the other car, a woman in her mid-60s, was taken to Limerick University Hospital with serious injuries. The road was closed for a technical examination and gardaí appealed for any witnesses to contact Nenagh Garda Station on 067 50450.

At around 4.15am on Sunday morning, a man in his early 20s died after the car in which he was travelling with another man of similar age, crashed into a ditch at Dromsallagh, Co Limerick.