Irish children die in Swedish road crash

AN Irish family were involved in an horrific crash in Sweden yesterday which left two of their children dead and another in a critical condition.

Swedish police were last night attempting to trace relatives of the Irish couple who were travelling with their five children near Stockholm when their Mitsubishi people carrier was involved in a collision with a lorry.

The names of the dead a two-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy were not released by Swedish authorities.

One of the three other children was last night in a critical condition in a Stockholm hospital. The couple, who were injured but not seriously, were said to be in deep shock. The driver of the lorry was also hospitalised.

Marcus Lillkzist of the Dagens Nyheter newspaper in Stockholm said the accident happened near a small town 30km south of the Swedish capital at 1pm.

The tragedy unfolded near Oesmo when one of the truck's tyres exploded causing the driver to lose control. The girl died at the scene and the boy died after being airlifted to hospital.

The car they were driving was registered in Sweden from June to late December next, but Mr Lillkzist was unable to say if the family were on holiday or were working in Sweden.

Last night, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs was unable to shed any light on the case.