In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Passengers angry as flight cancelled

Passengers on an Aer Lingus flight who were left on the tarmac in Dublin airport from 3.30pm yesterday until the flight to New York was cancelled at 8pm have accused the airline of treating them "disgracefully".

Louis O'Flaherty said the scheduled flight was due to leave at 10.30am but they were told a computer problem was preventing departure. "We were eventually allowed board the craft at 3.30pm but were literally told nothing until informed by the captain at eight o'clock that the flight was cancelled and we would be accommodated tomorrow on another flight," he said.

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A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said the problem had arisen when passengers who were due to travel from Shannon had been transferred to Dublin.

When the passengers boarded the flight, she said, at 3.30pm, a technical fault was found and technicians serviced the plane. However, the problem was not resolved and the flight was cancelled shortly after 8pm.

She said the company apologised to the passengers for the inconvenience.

Lithuanian man shot in Co Tyrone

PSNI detectives were last night trying to establish a motive for a shooting in Coalisland, Co Tyrone, in which a 28-year-old Lithuanian man was seriously wounded, writes Gerry Moriarty.

The man was shot in the Lineside area of the town at about 3am yesterday. Police have appealed for witnesses, especially anyone who saw a dark-coloured Vauxhall Astra.

The victim was last night described as seriously ill.

Couple injured as tree falls on car

A middle-aged couple are seriously ill in Naas General Hospital following injuries received when a tree fell on their car at Monasterevin Road, Kildare, at 4.15pm yesterday.

High winds felled the tree, and the couple had to be cut from their vehicle by the local fire brigade. Their injuries are understood not to be life threatening.

Pensioner's home raided

Gardaí in the Cavan/ Monaghan area were yesterday investigating an incident in which a gang targeted the home of an elderly resident at Shantonagh near Ballybay, Co Monaghan, close to the Cavan border, and got away with an undisclosed sum of cash and a legally held firearm.

The owner was not injured in the break-in, which took place late on Saturday night.

Family escapes pipe bomb attack

A couple and five children escaped unharmed when a pipe bomb blew in the windows of their Dublin home on Saturday night.

Gardaí are investigating attacks with explosive devices on two homes in the city.

They were first called to a house in Spitalfields, off Francis Street, shortly after 11pm on Saturday, where the back windows of a house had been blown in. A number of houses in the area were evacuated.

In a separate incident, a petrol bomb was thrown through the front door of an unoccupied house in Tymon North Place, Tallaght, at around 12.30am yesterday.