A Co Clare man in his 20s died yesterday following a road traffic accident in which his car crashed into a tractor on the Main Street of the south-east Clare village of Clonlara.
Gardaí last night named the victim as James Dineen Jnr of Gortogher, Parteen who died at Limerick's Mid-Western Hospital yesterday morning following the accident which occurred just before 7 p.m. on Monday evening.
Four others were injured in the crash and were removed to the Mid-Western Hospital and it emerged yesterday that their injuries could have been much worse were it not for the actions of local residents.
Moments after the crash, local people at Clonlara formed a human chain to pour water on the crashed car to prevent it going on fire. At the time, the car was wedged beneath the tractor and the locals continued to pour the water on the vehicles until the emergency services arrived.
The crash was a head-on collision between the car and the tractor, which was a double-sized agricultural machine, carrying a load of earth.
Two of the passengers in the crash were admitted to hospital, where they were in a stable condition yesterday, while two others, including the driver of the tractor, were discharged after being treated in casualty.
More than 30 gardaí, ambulance and fire personnel worked for two hours at the scene to free people trapped in the wreckage.
Mr Dineen's death was the second to occur on Clare's roads over the Bank Holiday weekend. Lissycasey man, Liam Kelly (49) died after his van collided with a truck one mile from Ennis on Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, gardaí in Portumna, Co Galway named the two-year-old killed in an accident on Monday afternoon as Jordan Poland from Eyrecourt, Co Galway.
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