School bus crash horror
The pledges were made amid devastating scenes of grief and shock as communities around Navan, Co Meath learned of the death toll and extent of the injuries.
Several Government ministers cancelled overseas engagements to deal with the fall-out from the crash which Taoiseach Bertie Ahern described as “an appalling tragedy”.
President Mary McAleese, who is on an official visit to the United States, sent messages of sympathy and support to the bereaved and injured. Two of the dead teenagers were due to sit their Leaving Cert exams in two weeks and two were studying for their Junior Cert.
The driver of the Bus Eireann-owned vehicle and motorists in two other cars which also collided at the scene were being treated in hospital last night for shock and injuries. The exact cause of the tragedy is not yet clear.
Gardaí, however, believe that the two cars, which collided head-on, may have crashed first and that the bus then swerved to avoid them and went out of control.
About a dozen of the students were thrown clear of the bus as it spun 180 degrees on the narrow country road before coming to a halt on its side in a ditch.
A few students managed to climb out of the wrecked vehicle unaided. Others were caught between mangled seats.
Some of the most seriously injured were trapped beneath the bus and lay in agony while rescue personnel worked frantically to free them.
The dead girls, all from St Michael’s Loreto Secondary School in Navan, had been sitting at the back of the bus which took the brunt of the impact.
Roadworks had been going on at the scene for the last three weeks and the stretch where the accident happened was re-surfaced in recent days. Heavy rain and hail had drenched the area about 40 minutes earlier.
The accident happened at about 4.10pm near Kentstown on the road between Navan and Duleek as the crowded single-decker bus was bringing the students home from four secondary schools in Navan town about five miles away.
Distraught parents were amongst the first on the scene after hysterical students called them on their mobile phones. Many of the injured were ferried to hospitals in family cars and chaos ensued as emergency services struggled to account for young people they feared were missing.
The Meath County Emergency Plan was put into action and gardaí, the Air Corps, ambulance crew, fire services and Civil Defence all attended the scene.
Transport Minister Martin Cullen, who is returning early from an engagement in Russia, said an independent inquiry would be held into the accident. But the Government refused to comment on confirmation that the bus carrying the teenagers had no seat-belts, a situation which has repeatedly drawn criticism from parents’ groups and safety experts.
Education Minister Mary Hanafin and Communications Minister Noel Dempsey travelled last night to Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan, where relatives and young friends of the students gathered and wept on hearing the lists of the dead and injured.
“We will all know someone once we hear the names. They are all local,” said one shocked local man.
Sister Mary O’Connor, a trustee of St Michael’s, said all connected with the pupils and the school felt absolute shock and horror. “It’s a huge, huge, tragedy. Young lives cut short, young lives with so much ahead of them.
“A few years ago this leaving cert class lost one of their classmates when she was killed while stepping off a bus. They had their class mass a few days ago and remembered this girl in their prayers. Now they have to deal with losing more of their friends. It’s very difficult and traumatic.”
