CoupleÕs ÔmiracleÕ escape as train smashes into car

BY FRANK FARRAGHER

A YOUNG couple from Monaghan had what has been described as ‘a miracle escape’, when their car was struck by the Dublin train at Murrough shortly after mid-day yesterday.

The car had been travelling from the old Dublin Road area towards the general direction of Ballyloughane Beach when the accident occurred at an unmanned and infrequently used level crossing. The incident occurred at around 12.05pm just as the three coach Dublin train was approaching – the front of the car was on the track and was struck by the train, spinning the vehicle around, but critically away from the track.

It is understood that the driver may have been in the process of trying to reverse away from the line when it was struck by the passing train.A Garda spokesman said that the couple had a ‘miracle escape’ and although both of them were in a state of shock, they were uninjured in the incident.

The couple – both in their 20s – who would not have been familiar with the area, may have been trying to make their way to Ballyloughane Beach, but had taken the wrong road. The road they were on, only leads its way into a series of coastal fields.

Gardai and other emergency services were on the scene within minutes while the train stopped a short distance after the collision. The train eventually made its way into Ceannt Station, at around 1.10pm.

“The train collided with the car but thankfully it just spun the vehicle back onto the road. Things could have been an awful lot worse,” said a Garda spokesman.

The railway line to Athenry was closed for most of yesterday afternoon to allow for a technical examination of the scene to be carried out – hundreds of passengers were provided with alternative bus services but the rail schedule was back to normal this morning.

Myles McHugh, Service Planning Manager with Iarnród Eireann, told the Sentinel that there was a tremendous sense of relief in the aftermath of the accident that no one had been killed or injured.However he exhorted all road users to be especially carefully with unmanned level crossings and to adhere diligently by all the regulations and procedures that applied to those crossings.

He said that Iarnród Eireann investigators would be carrying out a full investigation into the circumstances of the incident.