A motorist was killed and his two passengers were injured when his car went out of control and crashed into a bridge before plunging down an incline in Cork city early yesterday morning.
Damian Farrell (32), Woodhill Villages, Tivoli, was fatally injured when his Mazda car crashed into the Skew Bridge at Tivoli on the Lower Glanmire Road as he was driving from Cork in the direction of Glanmire at about 3am.
Mr Farrell, who worked in the security industry, was thrown from the car following the impact which saw the car smash through a wall and catapult on to some waste ground below the bridge before coming to a halt.
It is understood that the alarm was raised almost immediately and four ambulances rushed to the scene, but Mr Farrell died soon afterwards.
A male passenger and a female passenger were both brought to hospital.
The man was taken to the South Infirmary Victoria Hospital where his condition was yesterday described as stable, while the woman was taken to Cork University Hospital, where her condition was also described as stable.
Gardaí closed off the road for several hours to allow a Garda forensic crash examiner carry out an inspection of the scene. The car was later removed to Mayfield Garda station for examination.
Gardaí in Mayfield appealed to anyone who may have seen the accident or seen Mr Farrell's maroon-coloured two-litre Mazda travelling from Cork city along the Lower Glanmire Road just before 3am to contact them on 021-455 8510.
Mr Farrell's death brings the number of people to die in traffic collisions on the roads so far this month to 25 and follows a particularly bad weekend with fatal collisions in Monaghan, Tipperary and Kerry over the weekend.
It brings the death toll on the roads so far this year to 304.