3 killed in a head-on collision in Co Clare

Three men in their early twenties from the one car were killed in a head-on collision one mile outside the east Clare village of Clooney yesterday.

The accident occurred at 11.45 a.m. when the two cars, a white Co Laois-registered Mitsubishi and a blue Co Clare-registered Ford Fiesta, collided head-on.

A front-seat passenger of the Co Clare-registered car died at the scene. Two other men from the same car, a back-seat passenger and the driver, were taken to Ennis General Hospital in a critical condition and died a short time later. According to a Garda spokesman, all three men are from east Clare.

The woman driver of the second car, who was driving in the Tulla direction, was also removed to Ennis General Hospital after being freed from the wreck by fire-brigade personnel. Her injuries were described as serious but not life-threatening.

The accident occurred on a wide bend one mile past Clooney Church on the Tulla side of the main Ennis to Tulla road. It brings to 12 the number of people who have died on Clare roads this year - four more than the whole of last year.

Nationally, yesterday's tragedy brings the number of people to die on the roads this year to 307.