A 16-kilometre stretch of the M18 motorway was closed for a time on Thursday afternoon following what has been described as an “incident.”
An articulated lorry pulled into the hard shoulder of the southbound carriageway between Gort in Galway and Crusheen just inside the Clare boarder. The incident occurred at around 6.00pm.
Several truck drivers stopped to help the man who is understood to have sustained a number of injuries. He was removed to hospital by ambulance for treatment.
The man’s truck came to a stop in the hard shoulder with the inside wheels of the vehicle in the soft ground off the motorway. A heavy tow truck was brought in to stabilise and remove the cab and trailer before it was towed form the scene.
Units of the fire brigade from Ennis responded to the incident while fire crews and Gardaí from Gort closed the motorway southbound at junction 16.
All the circumstances of the incident are not known however Gardaí in Gort are investigating the matter.
The motorway was reopened shortly after 7.00pm.
#CLARE M18 closed southbound. More here: https://t.co/PSzIBsvOzE
— AA Ireland (@aaroadwatch) June 20, 2019