Dublin Bus promises bus tragedy report

Dublin Bus tonight pledged it would publish, within six weeks, a report on a city centre accident that claimed five lives.

Three women and two men were killed when a double-decker bus mounted a pavement on a River Liffeyside quay on Saturday afternoon, ploughing into a crowded bus-stop queue full of people waiting to board a second vehicle.

After an emergency meeting today, the company’s board of directors appointed an inquiry team that includes accident experts from Britain, Germany and Belgium, which will meet for the first time later this week.

Dublin Bus chairman John Lynch also reported that the two drivers involved in the accident were receiving counselling but were not expected to be back on duty in the short term.

He said the company knew what had happened but not why. It has been established that neither driver was suddenly taken ill ahead of the crash, he said.

Mr Lynch added: “We are investigating the circumstances, establishing the cause and any other contributory factors.”

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Transport Minister Seamus Brennan were among the first to sign a book of condolences opened by the company today at their headquarters in Dublin’s O'Connell Street, not far from the scene of the accident.

After adding his signature to the book – as a pile of wreaths from sympathisers built up at Wellington Quay – Mr Ahern expressed sympathy for the families affected by the deaths.

Mr Brennan warned against seeking a “quick answer and a simple solution” to what had happened.

He said: “There is always a temptation to look for an immediate explanation. This has been a terrible accident and created terrible trauma but we should be cautious about trying to take some easy solution off the shelf, when there isn’t one.”

Mr Brennan will face parliamentary questions on the incident this week from both Fine Gael and Labour.

Labour tonight tabled a private notice question seeking details of the accident investigation and asking if any review is planned into the location of, or safety procedures at, bus stops.

Earlier, the five victims were named as Kevin Gary, 43, from Leixlip, Co. Kildare, Vasul Tyminsky, 33, a Ukrainian living in Lucan, Co. Dublin, 59-year-old Margaret Traynor from Darndale, Dublin, Kathleen Gilton, 69, from Maynooth, Co. Kildare, and 43-year-old Theresa Keatly, from Ballymun, Dublin.

Post mortem examinations have been carried out on the bodies.

A total of seven people are still in hospital and were said to be in a “stable” condition.

The bus company has organised a team of counsellors to help the families of the bereaved, as well as staff members and eyewitnesses.

The drivers of both buses involved in the incident received counselling after being released from hospital but they have yet to talk to investigators from Dublin Bus about what happened.