Three people have been killed in road accidents - two on the outskirts of Waterford city yesterday evening, and one in Northern Ireland earlier in the day. The Waterford accident happened just before three others were seriously injured in the two-car crash. Gardai said indications were that the two cars were involved in a head-on collision.
Fire brigade emergency crews used cutting equipment to remove the victims from the vehicles and there were major traffic build-ups on both sides of the accident as the road was closed for over an hour.
The two, who were killed instantly in the crash, were travelling in the same car in the direction of Dungarvan. Their names were not released last night as gardai tried to confirm identification and contact relatives.
The three people in the second car are believed to have been work-mates, and all of those involved are thought to be from Co Waterford.
Ambulances brought the casualties to Waterford Regional Hospital, where the two were confirmed dead on admission and three people were being treated last night for multiple injuries, including broken limbs and facial injuries.
The accident happened on a wide stretch of road just outside the city boundary. There had been heavy rain and sleet showers in the vicinity before the crash.
In Northern Ireland, a 57-year-old woman was killed and five others injured in a multiple pileup involving six cars and an oil tanker on the A4 Dungannon to Ballygawley road. Three of the injured, including the dead woman's 25-year-old daughter, were seriously hurt. A spokesman for the South Tyrone Hospital in Dungannon said the other casualties were in a stable condition.
Fire-fighters had to cut one of the injured from the wreckage.
The road was closed while efforts were made to clear up gallons of oil leaking from the tanker which ended up on its side.
Local councillor Mr Vincent Currie demanded that funds be made available immediately to tackle a series of accident blackspots on the route. "Once again this notoriously dangerous A4 has seen a serious accident and claimed a fatality," he said. Yesterday's death was the fourth on the stretch in the past six months, and brought the number of fatalities on the A4 to 32 in the past 11 years.
"What does it take to prompt the Department of Environment into action? Funding should be made available immediately to implement a comprehensive scheme, rather than the inadequate, short-term measures we have seen introduced recently."
Just weeks ago, work began on an £80,000 improvement scheme at the spot where brothers Ciaran and Michael McGeary were killed last September.