A WOMAN died over the weekend when her parked car rolled forward and struck her while she was taking a mobile phone call.
The woman, in her 60s, had pulled over to the hard shoulder of the N3 near Belturbet, Co Cavan. After bringing the car to a stop, she walked to the front of the vehicle and was fatally injured after the car moved forward and hit her.
A second woman who was in the passenger seat raised the alarm, and emergency services rushed to the scene.
Gardaí say the driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
The passenger was later treated for shock. No other vehicles were involved in the incident.
The victim is believed to be from Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, and was driving what locals describe as a “red jeep” with Northern Ireland registration plates.
The incident occurred at 7.30pm on Saturday evening at Aghalane, near Belturbet.
The road remained closed on Saturday night and for much of Sunday morning, as a Garda forensic team carried out an investigation into the cause of the death.
In a separate incident, five people were taken to hospital yesterday afternoon following a collision just outside Arklow involving two cars.
Three of the men were in a Ford Fiesta car, and the other two males were in a Nissan Almera.
It is understood that all five men suffered serious neck and back injuries in the incident, but none of the injuries is thought to be life-threatening.
The two vehicles were travelling in the same direction towards Arklow when the collision occurred at 4pm at the junction of the Beech Road and Dublin Road.
Firemen from Arklow spent over an hour cutting four of the men from the two vehicles, while the driver of the Nissan Almera was able to free himself from his vehicle.
The two cars were written off. Seven ambulances attended the scene to take the injured to hospitals in Dublin. Gardaí put in place traffic diversions on the road throughout the afternoon.
In the North, a 35-year-old woman died in a road crash in Co Antrim.
The single-vehicle crash occurred on the Moira Road near Maghaberry on Saturday afternoon.