GARDAÍ HAVE appealed for witnesses to a head-on collision which claimed the lives of two men on the main Cork-Limerick road just outside Charleville in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The road was closed for almost 10 hours to allow a forensic crash investigator examine the scene.
Andreius Simanavicius, a Lithuanian national living at Kilmihil, Kilmallock Co Limerick, was killed instantly, while Michael Maguire from Ballyanrahan, Patrickswell, Co Limerick was fatally injured in the collision at Pike’s Cross, Ballyhea just outside Charleville.
Mr Maguire (60) was taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital but died there from his injuries a number of hours later, while his wife who was travelling with him at the time was taken to Mallow General Hospital where her condition was yesterday described as stable.
Another man in Mr Simanavicius’s car was also injured in the crash which happened at about 1am. He too was taken to Cork University Hospital where his condition was yesterday described as stable.
Mr Simanavicius, who had just turned 37 yesterday, was travelling southwards from Charleville towards Cork when his Nissan Primera was in collision with a Ford Mondeo estate being driven northwards from Cork to Limerick by Mr Maguire, a taxi driver.
The alarm was raised by passing motorists and fire brigade units from Charleville, Mallow and Kilmallock attended at the scene. They had to use cutting equipment to free some of the injured from the badly mangled cars.
Local gardaí from Charleville and Mallow also attended at the scene along with HSE ambulance crews who removed the injured to Mallow General Hospital and Cork University Hospital.
Both cars were removed to Mallow Garda station to allow a Garda PSV inspector carry out a mechanical examination of both vehicles.
Garda Insp Senan Ryan of Mallow described the crash as “a horrific head-on collision”.
He appealed to anyone who may have witnessed the incident or travelled on the stretch of road at about 1am to contact Mallow Garda station on 022-21105.
Insp Ryan confirmed that post-mortem examinations were carried out on both deceased yesterday and gardaí have contacted the Lithuanian embassy in relation to funeral arrangements for Mr Simanavicius, who had been living in Ireland for about three years.