One person has been hospitalised following a single vehicle road traffic collision on the M18 this morning.
The incident occurred at around 10.30am in the northbound lanes of the motorway at Carrigoran. A car was reported to have left the carriageway and crashed down an embankment with a person trapped inside.
Gardaí and National Ambulance Service paramedics responded to the incident along with units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Shannon and Ennis stations.
A number of motorists stopped at the scene immediately after the collision to see offer any help they could until emergency services reached the incident. On arrival, emergency crews found that the car in the ditch with the driver still inside.
Fire crews and paramedics climbed down to secure the vehicle while paramedics began to assess the casualty. Firefighters used specialist cutting equipment to remove sections of the car so the patient could besafely recovered them from the car.
After being removed from the vehicle at around 11.40am, fire service personnel and ambulance paramedics carried the stretcher up onto the carriageway where the casualty was loaded onto the waiting ambulance. The driver was removed to hospital for further treatment.
Fire crews implemented an Emergency Traffic Management Plan and reopened Lane 2 shortly before midday to allow the significant backlog of traffic to begin to clear. A vehicle recovery truck attended the incident and efforts began to remove the car from the location.
Once the crashed car had been recovered and the scene declared safe, the northbound lanes were fully reopened at 12.35pm.
Traffic Infrastructure Ireland (TII) motorway crews also attended the scene.
