Ballingeary crash victims had been attending funerals before tragic collision occurred
Flowers left in the West Cork village of Ballingeary where the fatal accident occured. Picture Dan Linehan
The woman who died and two others who were injured following a car collision in the Cork village of Ballingeary yesterday had been returning home after attending two funerals in the area.
Gobnait Twomey (51) died in the tragedy as she walked home from one funeral, while it has emerged her mother was pushed to safety by a man who had been attending a second funeral nearby.
The accident happened in the Cork Gaeltacht village, about 20km west of Macroom, at around 1.10am on Tuesday morning.
On Monday afternoon the funerals of two local men had been held in the area: Willie Twomey's at St Finbarr’s & St Ronan’s Church, Ballingeary and Seamus Lucey's in nearby Inchigeela at St Finbarr and the Holy Angels Church.
The two families are very well known in the area and the funerals were attended by many local people from Baliingeary and the surrounding areas.
On Monday night groups from both funerals were socialising in Ballingeary and began to make their way home some time after midnight.
It is understood that mourners from the two funerals met on the main street in Ballingeary and began chatting and commiserating with each other as they made their way home.
As the group of three women and two men continued along the main street together dressed in dark mourning clothes, they were hit by a car coming in the opposite direction.
An ambulance crew based in Skibbereen were in Ballingeary at the time attending to a minor incident and arrived on the scene within minutes. When they arrived they encountered a scene of disbelief as the horror of what had happened began to dawn on those present.
Despite efforts to save her, Gobnait Twomey sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ms Twomey who was walking home with her mother and sister had moved to Dublin from Cork several years ago where she lived in the Finglas area.
She had recently graduated from UCD where she was studying physiotherapy. She was a niece of Willie Twomey and had returned home to offer her sympathies at his funeral. Her body was taken to Cork University Hospital for postmortem.
Her sister Caitriona (52) sustained a broken leg and arm in the collision and her mother Eibhlis was treated for shock at the scene. Kieran Lucey who managed to push Eibhlis out of the path of the oncoming car, sustained minor injuries in the collision.
The driver of the car, a local man in his 40s who attended one of the funerals, and his passengers were not injured but were also treated for shock.
Local councillor Gobnait Moynihan told the that the tragedy has left people in Ballingeary in a state of shock.
“The whole area will feel this tragedy and so close to Christmas.
"The whole area is in shock at what has happened. This is a very close community and people are very upset, not just in Ballingeary but in all the surrounding areas.”
The driver was arrested at the scene and taken to Bandon Garda Station where he was being held last night under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act for questioning.
The main street in Ballingeary was closed for most of the day to enable a technical examination of the scene by Garda forensic collision investigators and the vehicle involved in the accident was also examined.
Gardaí are appealing for any witnesses to the collision to come forward.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Macroom Garda Station on 026 20590, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666111 or any garda station.
Meanwhile, a man in his 30s died in a crash between a car and truck just outside Millstreet, Co Cork yesterday evening.
The accident happened around 5pm on the Drishane Road. No other injuries were reported.
Macroom gardaí are also investigating that crash and have asked for any witnesses or anyone with camera footage to come forward.
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