Mother (40s) and young daughter killed in crash in Co Mayo
Two members of the same family died on Tuesday evening when the car in which they were travelling collided with a lorry in Co Mayo.
It is understood the deceased were a mother (40s) and her young daughter.
In Co Westmeath, a man in his 50s was killed in a single-vehicle crash.
Gardaí said the Co Mayo crash occurred at approximately 5.45pm on the N26 at Callow between Foxford and Swinford.
Fr Padraig Costello from the nearby parish of Foxford received a call from gardaí at about 6.30pm.
“I said prayers at the scene, that’s all I really could do,” he said. “It was a horrific accident, a horrific scene, so sad.”
He said the emergency services were present when he arrived and the car had gone off the road. “There wasn’t anything much they could do, I think, at that stage... for them it was a horrific scene. That’s all you can do, just say a prayer and think of their family... You really feel just so, so, so sad for all of them.”
Local Fianna Fáil councillor John Caulfield said the crash brought Co Mayo road fatalities to three this week.
“Two lives lost [tonight], two from the one family, I believe. Our thoughts are with the families involved and indeed with the lorry driver as well.”
Mr Caulfield said where the crash occurred was not a known blackspot, and driving conditions were good.
“It’s a busy stretch of road but certainly not one for fatalities. I have no recollection of any fatality along there in recent years.
“The community is numb tonight. I’m getting the phone calls, the messages, they’re just numb by this.”
The victims are understood to be from the local area.
In a statement, gardaí said: “The driver of the car, a female aged in her 40s, and a passenger of the car, a female child, were fatally injured in the collision.”
The driver of the lorry was taken to hospital with injuries that are understood to be non-life threatening, gardaí added.
Gardaí are appealing for any witnesses to this collision to come forward. Any road users who may have camera footage, including dashcam, and were travelling on the N26 between Swinford and Foxford between 5pm and 6pm on Tuesday have been asked to make the footage available to gardaí.
Anyone with any information can contact Ballina Garda Station on 096 20560, the Garda confidential line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.
In Co Westmeath, a man in his 50s was killed in a single vehicle crash on the R395 at Teevrevagh, Castlepollard.
At approximately 6.40pm on Tuesday, they were alerted to the incident in which the man’s vehicle collided with a roadside ditch.
“The male driver of the car, aged in his 50s and sole occupant of the vehicle, was pronounced deceased at the scene,” a garda spokeswoman said.
A technical examination was being carried out by forensic collision investigators. Gardaí have appealed for any witnesses, or motorists with dashcam footage in the area at the time, to come forward.
Anyone with information can contact Mullingar Garda station on 044 938 4000 or the confidential line.
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