ROADS:ICY CONDITIONS on an untreated road were a contributory factor in the death of a mother and son who were killed in Co Louth at the weekend.
And in a separate incident, a 36-year-old man was killed when he was struck by a car in Dublin.
Leontina Covaci (35) and Ezacheal Covaci (9) of Rivervale Grove, Dunleer, Co Louth, died on Saturday afternoon when the car in which they were passengers hit a wall on the old N1, south of Castlebellingham.
The boy’s father, believed to be in his 30s, was driving the car when it crashed on the former main road between Dublin and Belfast, just north of Dunleer village.
He was taken, along with the couple’s three-year-old daughter and an unrelated nine-year-old girl who were also in the car, to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. He was later discharged and the children were transferred to Dublin.
The nine-year-old went to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, where her condition was described as critical yesterday. The three-year-old was transferred to Temple Street Children’s University Hospital and was described as stable.
The woman had been in the front passenger seat of the Opel Vectra and the three children were in the back. All those involved were originally from Romania. They had been living in Dunleer and the children were at local schools.
The accident happened on a relatively straight stretch of road close to Dorian’s Cross in the townland of Cangy. Locals said there was black ice on stretches of the road after overnight snow and a hard frost and a number of cars had skidded on it.
The road was not gritted by Louth County Council because of the reduced supply of salt available, though it had been gritted earlier in the month.
A Garda spokesman confirmed yesterday that the icy road conditions were “believed to be a contributory factor” in the crash. A council spokesman said the road was untreated “in line with the decision announced on Friday to prioritise national routes to ration scarce salt supplies”. The rations were pending further stocks arriving into the country through the National Roads Authority’s central procurement system later this week, he said. The authority, which allocates salt to local authorities, last week told them to be careful in using supplies. It said there was enough salt to ensure main roads continued to be treated and further supplies of salt were being held up at sea by storms.
In Dublin, a 36-year-old man was killed when he was struck by a car early on Saturday morning.
The collision happened at White’s Cross junction near Blackrock on the N11 at 4.30am. Emergency services were called to the scene and the man was taken to St Vincent’s hospital. He died there on Saturday afternoon.
Gardaí at Blackrock appealed for witnesses who may have been near the junction of the N11 and the Leopardstown Road and Newtownpark Avenue at the time.
Separately, the Police Service of Northern Ireland in Newry appealed for witnesses to a crash involving a Nissan Terrano jeep. The incident happened at about 3.30pm on Saturday afternoon on the Old Dublin Road. A man (62) was taken to hospital.