Meath bus victims died from roll-over crash injuries

An inquest into the deaths of the five teenagers killed in the Kentstown bus crash has heard the bus overturned after at least one of its wheels locked when the brakes were applied on a bend.

Forty-six other teenagers and the bus driver were injured when the school bus overturned near road works on May 23, 2005.

Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell, who carried out three of the post mortems, told the jury today that the victims' injuries were consistent with “roll-over transport incidents where passengers are unrestrained”.

The jury heard how four of the girls died from multiple injuries and a fifth died from an unstable neck fracture.

Bus driver John Hubble said he had slowed on the approach to the road works but, when he braked a second time, the bus swung on the road like a gate opening.

He said it spun 180 degrees and toppled over into a ditch.

The court heard that seat-belts were fitted, but the wearing of them wasn’t compulsory, as it is now.

Garda PSV inspector Adrian Tucker told the jury that scrape marks at the scene suggested at least one of the bus’s back wheels had locked up when the brake was applied on the bend.

He said this caused the bus to swing out, which he added might have been avoided with an anti-lock braking system.

The jury also heard the bus was travelling at roughly 35mph, which was below the maximum speed limit.