A lorry-driver was killed during gale-force storms in Derry yesterday when the articulated vehicle he was driving plunged off the Foyle Bridge on to mudflats 100 feet below.
The lorry was being driven across the bridge from the City Side to the Waterside just before 2 p.m. when it is believed the vehicle was subjected to a sudden gust of wind from the south-west.
There is a wind-monitoring system on the bridge which is used to alert police to close it during high winds, but a PSNI spokesman said there was no warning of the sudden gust which caused the lorry to be forced over the bridge, which remained closed to traffic overnight.
The lorry crashed through railings on the driver's left side before the vehicle plummeted headlong on to the mud flats at the high tide level.
The cab was completely destroyed and the articulated section was turned on to its side by the force of the impact.
Members of the emergency services rushed to the scene, but the 34-year-old driver from a Lurgan transportation firm was pronounced dead at the scene by a local doctor.
"He had absolutely no chance at all given the height from which the lorry plunged and the fact that the cab of the vehicle took the full brunt of the impact," a senior ambulance officer said.
The area commander of the fire service in Derry, Mr Eoin Doyle, said the gale-force winds had made it a very difficult operation for his officers.
"There is the extent of the wreckage area which is under a bridge, close to the river Foyle and beside a railway track," Mr Doyle said.
"Then there is the wind and rain which made things even more difficult for us."
Also in Derry, another lorry-driver was injured when the vehicle he was driving overturned at the Faughan bridge, about four miles from the Foyle Bridge, on the main Derry-Limavady road.
As the lorry overturned, it crashed on to an oncoming car.
The driver of the car, a woman who is three months pregnant, was slightly injured, and the lorry-driver sustained minor injuries to his limbs although he had to be cut free by fire officers.
In the centre of the city, Butcher Street was closed by police following reports that a section of the roof of the Tower Hotel had become dislodged by the driving winds.
A lead section of the roof flapped in the wind and tiles were blown on to the street below.
Several incoming and outward-bound flights were also cancelled at City of Derry Airport as the weather worsened late in the afternoon and early evening.
Northern Ireland Electricity also had almost 500 of its workforce on standby last night as power cuts were expected in widespread areas of the north-west.
The Northland, Buncrana and Prehen roads in Derry were also closed for several hours because of fallen trees.
Night classes at local schools and colleges were cancelled, as were numerous sporting and social events.