A man in his early 20s was killed last night when he was struck by an articulated lorry at Essex Quay, Dublin. Olivia Kelly, reports.
The accident happened less than 50 yards from where five people were killed by an out-of-service Dublin bus last month.
The man was crossing the road at traffic lights on the quay midway between Grattan Bridge and the Civic Offices on Wood Quay at 5.25 p.m., the height of the city's rush hour.
Hundreds of commuters lined the quay, which has become a major terminus for Dublin Bus since last month's fatal crash.
Eyewitnesses said the young man stepped from the river side of the street in front of the large blue lorry, which, they said, did not appear to be travelling at excessive speed and did not break the lights.
The driver of the lorry did not stop after the collision, but was flagged down further down the quays.
Gardaí said he was not aware he had hit anyone and they are not treating the incident as a hit-and-run.
Witnesses to the accident said the man appeared to have been killed instantly.
"He just stepped from the path. The truck seemed to be going fairly slowly but he was just right out in front of it and it didn't stop," a man who was walking towards the city centre at the time said. "I was at the corner of the lights, directly across from him."
He said the whole queue at the bus stop had witnessed it, and "then two guys came out from one of the buildings and covered him with a cloth."
A private company's provincial bus had been travelling in the lane to the left of the lorry. Shortly before the accident both vehicles had slowed down, witnesses said, to enable them to pass each other on the narrow stretch of road.
Gardaí and emergency services arrived at the scene at around 5.45 p.m. and immediately closed off the quays from O'Connell Bridge to Wood Quay.
Vehicles already on the quays at the time of the accident were diverted up Parliament Street.
However, the closure caused severe traffic disruption across the south of the city. The quays were reopened at 6.20 p.m.