Death crash school bus driver faces questioning

Gardaí were today preparing to interview the driver of a bus which was involved in the worst school vehicle crash in Irish history.

Five teenage girls were killed and 46 people were injured when a coach overturned in Kentstown as it was taking 51 children home from school in Navan, Co Meath, yesterday afternoon.

Floral tributes were laid at the gates of St Michael’s Loreto Convent in Navan and pupils huddled in groups to mourn the deaths of their four teenage schoolfriends as all classes were cancelled this morning.

A female pupil of the nearby Beaufort College was also killed in the crash.

Sister Mary O’Connor of the board of trustees of St Michael’s Loreto Convent said the dead students were all good friends.

“Teachers are devastated that students who they taught yesterday are no longer with us,” she said.

“The feeling is of shock and devastation. There is a quiet, calm atmosphere around the school today but I think people are very traumatised.”

The five teenagers who died were Amy McCabe, 15, of Hayestown, Navan, Deirdre Scanlon, 17, from Yellow Furze, Beauparc, Claire McCluskey, 18, from Rathdrinagh, Beauparc, Navan, and Lisa Callan, 15, from Newtown, Beauparc, Navan, who were students at St Michael’s Loreto Convent, while Sinead Ledwidge, 15, from Senchalstown, Navan, was a pupil at Beaufort College.

A garda spokesman said detectives were getting ready to interview the bus driver.

“As soon as he is well, he will be interviewed,” he said. “The investigation is continuing.”

A spokeswoman for Bus Eireann, the bus operator, said an investigation was under way but it was too early to say what caused the crash.

The bus was not fitted with seatbelts.

Most of the casualties were released from hospital overnight but 22 continued to receive treatment this morning.

The six schoolchildren who were in a critical condition have been upgraded to stable, a spokeswoman for Our Lady’s of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda said.

Of the 17 patients in the hospital, 15 teenagers are in a stable condition, as are the bus driver and the driver of another vehicle involved in the crash.

Another five people are in a stable condition in Navan Hospital.

President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern have spoken of their shock, and passed on their sympathies to the families of the dead children.

Mr Ahern described the accident as appalling.

“It’s a huge tragedy, an enormous shock to the whole country,” he said.

“Obviously we send our sympathies and commiserate with the families of those who have been bereaved.”

Mrs McAleese interrupted a state visit to the US to speak of her distress at the “tragic loss of young life in this afternoon’s dreadful accident in Co Meath“.

The Garda spokesman said students from the Mercy Convent and St Patrick’s Classical School were also on the bus.

Witness Father David O’Hanlon described distraught relatives flocking to the scene, with many of the children in hysterics as they waited to be freed from the wreckage.

Outside hospital last night, relatives of the survivors spoke of their relief - but expressed their sorrow to the families of the five teenage girls.

Steven Gray, from Slane, Co Meath, said his younger brother John had sustained only a suspected broken shoulder, along with cuts in the accident.

“It’s a relief he’s alive,” he said.

“There are so many people dead, and it could have been a lot worse.

“But you have to think of the five families (of the children who died).”

Sharon Matthews, 17, spoke outside the hospital about Catriona Dunleavy, 17, her friend and classmate at the Mercy Convent in Navan, who was also injured in the bus crash.

“She has a fairly big gash to her forehead and she’s had stitches,” she said.

Ms Matthews said her heart went out to the people who had been killed and injured in the crash.

“Most of them have cuts and bruises. Another guy had his neck in a support and he looks fairly bad. Another girl broke her leg,” she said.

Students at the four schools attended by victims of the bus crash are to be given counselling today, while Our Lady’s Hospital of Lourdes in Drogheda is providing accommodation and support to parents and relatives.