GARDAÍ HAVE appealed for witnesses after a mother and her teenage daughter were killed in a single vehicle road crash in Donegal at the weekend.
They had been out walking in a scenic area near Mount Errigal when they were killed.
The mother and daughter have been named as 45-year-old Martina McLernon and her 15-year-old daughter, Louise, from Toome, Co Antrim.
They, and other family members, were staying in the locality for the weekend.
The McLernons were walking at Meenacuing, Gweedore, near An Chúirt Hotel at about 8.30pm on Saturday when they were struck by a car, which is believed to have gone out of control.
Their bodies were removed to Letterkenny General Hospital where a postmortem examination was due to be carried out yesterday.
The male driver of the car, who is from the local area, was taken to hospital but he did not suffer serious injuries. The 1990 registered Toyota Carina was extensively damaged and remained at the scene until lunchtime yesterday.
Gardaí kept the road at Meenacuing closed overnight for a technical examination but it reopened yesterday.
Eyewitnesses described the scene as “horrific and heartbreaking” as the bodies of the mother and daughter lay on the roadside awaiting the emergency services.
The accident happened on a scenic stretch of the N56 road in the shadow of Mount Errigal and near a picnic spot popular with tourists.
Mrs McLernon and her husband, Martin, run a successful engineering company MM Engineering Services in Toomebridge, Co Antrim where they specialise in wrought ironwork.
Garda Sgt Mick Carroll of Bunbeg last night expressed his sympathy to the family of the victims and appealed for witnesses to contact gardaí at Bunbeg Garda Station, (074) 9531333.