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11/08/2008
Meath Coach Crash Inquest Opens
An inquest has opened in Trim into a Bus Éireann crash which killed five schoolgirls in Co Meath three years ago.
Claire McCluskey, Deirdre Scanlon, Lisa Callan, Aimee McCabe and Sinead Ledwidge died when the coach they were travelling in overturned on the Navan-Kentstown road in May 2005.
The victims were pupils at St Michael's Loretto Convent School in Navan and nearby Beaufort College. Forty-six people were taken to hospital with injuries following the crash.
The five teenagers were killed after the bus overturned when at least one of its wheels locked as the brakes were applied on a bend.
Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell, who carried out three of the post mortems, told the jury today that the victims' injuries were consistent with "roll-over transport incidents where passengers are unrestrained".
The jury heard how four of the girls died from multiple injuries and a fifth died from an unstable neck fracture.
Bus driver John Hubble said he had slowed on the approach to the road works but, when he braked a second time, the bus swung on the road like a gate opening.
He said it spun 180 degrees and toppled over into a ditch.
The court heard that seat-belts were fitted, but the wearing of them wasn't compulsory, as it is now.
Today's inquest date was set last month after Bus Éireann indicated that it would not be appealing the €2m fine imposed on it at the Dublin Circuit Court in June.
Opening the inquest, Coroner John Lacey said it marked the end of a long legal process for the families of the deceased, but that the human tragedy would never leave them.
It is expected that many witnesses who were on the bus will give evidence about the accident.
The incident, which occurred at around 4.30pm, saw the bus overturn at Casey's Cross at Kentstown near Navan.
Three separate investigations, led by Irish police, the Health and Safety Executive and Bus Eireann, were undertaken to try to establish the cause of the accident.
Irish President Mary McAleese - who was in the USA at the time - expressed her shock at the news: "She sends her deepest sympathy to the families and friends of those who have been bereaved," a spokesperson said at the time.
See: Five schoolgirls killed in Co Meath bus crash
(BMcC)
Claire McCluskey, Deirdre Scanlon, Lisa Callan, Aimee McCabe and Sinead Ledwidge died when the coach they were travelling in overturned on the Navan-Kentstown road in May 2005.
The victims were pupils at St Michael's Loretto Convent School in Navan and nearby Beaufort College. Forty-six people were taken to hospital with injuries following the crash.
The five teenagers were killed after the bus overturned when at least one of its wheels locked as the brakes were applied on a bend.
Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell, who carried out three of the post mortems, told the jury today that the victims' injuries were consistent with "roll-over transport incidents where passengers are unrestrained".
The jury heard how four of the girls died from multiple injuries and a fifth died from an unstable neck fracture.
Bus driver John Hubble said he had slowed on the approach to the road works but, when he braked a second time, the bus swung on the road like a gate opening.
He said it spun 180 degrees and toppled over into a ditch.
The court heard that seat-belts were fitted, but the wearing of them wasn't compulsory, as it is now.
Today's inquest date was set last month after Bus Éireann indicated that it would not be appealing the €2m fine imposed on it at the Dublin Circuit Court in June.
Opening the inquest, Coroner John Lacey said it marked the end of a long legal process for the families of the deceased, but that the human tragedy would never leave them.
It is expected that many witnesses who were on the bus will give evidence about the accident.
The incident, which occurred at around 4.30pm, saw the bus overturn at Casey's Cross at Kentstown near Navan.
Three separate investigations, led by Irish police, the Health and Safety Executive and Bus Eireann, were undertaken to try to establish the cause of the accident.
Irish President Mary McAleese - who was in the USA at the time - expressed her shock at the news: "She sends her deepest sympathy to the families and friends of those who have been bereaved," a spokesperson said at the time.
See: Five schoolgirls killed in Co Meath bus crash
(BMcC)
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Ireland WeatherToday:Gale, coastal severe gale, northwest winds ease from late afternoon. Scattered showers will fall as snow over the hills at first, becoming isolated from mid-afternoon. Maximum temperature 7 °C.Tonight:Showers, scattered in the evening, will clear by midnight leaving the night dry with clear spells. Cloud will spread east towards morning. Minimum temperature 2 °C.
