Driver dead, passengers hurt in minibus crash

A minibus driver was killed and several of his passengers injured today in the continuing carnage on Irish roads.

The accident happened in Co Westmeath at Lough Owel shortly before 1am.

The minibus driver was named by gardaí as Dessie Connolly, 63, who lived at Templemanor, Celbridge, Co Kildare.

It crash involved the minibus and a car on the Mullingar – Longford main road, said gardaí.

A number of passengers on the mini-bus were treated for injuries which, said a spokesman, were not thought to be life-threatening.

The fatal accident followed two early morning road deaths and the earlier death of a pedestrian.

The toll on Ireland’s roads has now reached 264 so far this year – an average of one every day since January 1.

A 19-year-old woman, Emma Woodland from St Patrick’s Road, Limerick, died in hospital after a three-car collision in Limerick shortly after midnight.

She was a passenger in one of the vehicles which crashed on the Ballysimon Road in the city, said gardaí.

In Co Sligo a 38-year-old man, Eamonn Fitzgerald, from Culleens, Co Sligo, was killed just before midnight when the car he was driving left the road at Carrownurlar, Enniscrone, crashed through a gate and ended up in a field.

The man, who was travelling alone, was taken to the Sligo General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Earlier a 64-year-old man died after an accident at Claremorris, Co Mayo.

The elderly pedestrian, named as Austin Carney who lived locally, died when he was hit by a van on the Ballyhaunis Road.