Four people have been hospitalised, three with serious injuries, following separate road traffic collisions in Co Clare.
Emergency services from three countries responded to the scene of the collisions involving a total of five vehicles on the M18 motorway at Dromoland at around 10.30pm on Saturday. The crashes, which occurred following a heavy downpour of hailstone, resulted in both sides of the motorway being closed.
Gardaí responded to the scene followed by a number of National Ambulance Service resources from Limerick and Clare as well as units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Ennis and Shannon stations.
Additional support was requested from Galway Fire and Rescue Service who dispatched two units from Gort station. Ambulance paramedics assessed a number of people at the scene before two people, a woman and a man, were taken to hospital for further treatment.
The collisions happened at the same time and location and across all four lanes of the motorway about 500m south of the Dromoland interchange. Three vehicles lost control and crashed in the southbound lanes of the M18 while on the other side of the motorway, two more cars crashed.
In the northbound carriageway, one of the cars spun out and crashed backwards into the grass median while the other vehicle collided with the crash barrier in the hard shoulder.
It’s understood that a man who had gotten out of one of the cars was then struck by another car travelling in the same direction. The man is believed to have suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
It appears that the vehicles all lost control on the hazardous surface following a downpour of hailstone.
The southbound lanes of the motorway were reopened about an hour after the collisions occurred. The northbound lanes remained closed however for a further hour while emergency services and Traffic Infrastructure Ireland (TII) motorway crews cleared debris from the road and the vehicles were safely recovered.
Arrangements were also made to have the motorway gritted as temperatures dropped and further wintry showers were expected.
Gardaí in Ennis are appealing for anyone who witnesses the incidents or have dashcam footage from the time of the collisions, to contact them on 065 6848100.
Meanwhile, soon after the motorway incident had been cleared, emergency services were mobilised to a serious road traffic collision outskirts of Ennis this morning.
Two men were seriously injured in the two-car head-on collision which happened shortly before 1.00am on the main N68 Ennis to Kilrush road at Kilmorane. One of the vehicles was a taxi however the driver wasn’t carrying a fare at the time.
It’s understood the driver of the second car was also travelling alone. Fire crews had to use specialist cutting equipment to help release one of the drivers from the wreckage of his vehicle.
Multiple Garda units responded to the scene along with two ambulances and a rapid response advanced paramedic unit. Fire crews from Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Ennis and Shannon stations also responded to the scene.
Gardaí in Ennis are appealing for anyone who witnesses the incident or has dashcam footage from the time of the collision, to contact them on 065 6848100.
Earlier in the day, emergency services dealt with a collision on the M18 motorway a few hundred metres north of junction 12 (Killoo/Clarecastle). The single vehicle crash happened at around 5.30pm when a car lost control and spun around in the overtaking lane.
The car came to a stop facing in the opposite direction but other vehicles avoided colliding with it. The overtaking lane was left blocked as a result.
Gardaí and National Ambulance Service paramedics were first to arrive at the scene. They were following soon afterwards by units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Ennis and Shannon stations. It’s understood that no injuries have been reported.