A post-mortem examination was carried out at University College Hospital in Galway yesterday on the body of a nine-year-old girl who died when the car in which she was travelling struck a horse outside Tuam on Monday evening.
Gardai at Tuam have confirmed that a squad car was on its way to the scene, following several reports that a horse was in the middle of the road, when the accident occurred about two miles from the town just after 6.30 p.m.
The girl has been named as Bernadette Carroll, of Ballinastack, Ballyglunin, Tuam. Her brother, who was driving the car, and another girl, a friend of the deceased child, escaped with minor injuries. It is understood the horse was standing in the middle of the road and the car turned over before landing in a nearby bog. The horse was killed instantly.
Several motorists had reported the horse as a traffic hazard to gardai in Tuam.