AN INQUEST was told yesterday that a mother and and her teenage daughter died from drowning when their car with other schoolgirls in the rear seat went off an icy road and crashed into a river.
The three girls yesterday gave graphic evidence of their experience on the night they were trapped in the car in the river.
Rebecca Langan (14), from Currabaggan, Knockmore, Co Mayo, Kate McLoughlin (14) from Cloghans, Ballina, and Carrie McAndrew (13) from Belgarrow, Foxford, escaped the river plunge which occurred near their homes on December 9th last.
But their close friend, Rachel Herbert (15), and her mother, Sandra Herbert (40), an employee of the Road Safety Authority in Ballina, died in the tragedy.
All three survivors had been in the rear seat of the Toyota Avensis car being driven by Mrs Herbert to a disco run by Foróige in Ardagh Community Centre near Knockmore.
Kate McLoughlin told an inquest into the deaths in Ballina, conducted by the coroner for north Mayo, Dr Eleanor Fitzgerald, that they were driving along at a normal speed when the car skidded and it seemed Mrs Herbert “lost control of the steering and the car was moving over and back”.
“When I say the car was tumbling, I mean it was tumbling down into the river. There was a big splash. I did not realise the car was on its roof in the river.
“Water started coming in. To me it looked like Sandra had fallen over on Rachel. I must have had a blackout because when I woke up I was lying on the back passenger door on the driver’s side.
“I could see a light shining and I could see Sandra’s face. She was under water and I was as well. I remember when I woke up I tried to pull Sandra’s head out of the water. I was pulling at her hair but could not move her. I heard Rebecca and Carrie screaming so I started screaming. I could see Sandra but could not see Rachel. Sandra was not making any sound. I was freezing cold.”
With the light of a mobile phone, Kate managed to find a switch which unlocked the door and all three managed to escape from the vehicle and raise the alarm in a nearby house.
Rebecca said the three were in water up their waists afterwards. As they were trying to get on to the road – all they had to hold on to was nettles and thorns.
Evidence was given by local rescuers who arrived on the scene that both women were dead when taken from the upturned vehicle and efforts to resuscitate them failed. Rescuer Ian Kelly, a garda who lives locally, said the road where the tragedy took place was “a notorious frost pocket” and there had been several incidents there over the years.
Pathologist Dr Fadel Bennani, who carried out postmortems, said the cause of death in both cases was asphyxia due to drowning.
An inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental deaths with icy roads a contributory factor.