Cause of tragic crash remains unclear

The crash: Preliminary investigations by the Garda and Dublin Bus suggest Saturday's accident at Wellington Quay happened when an out-of-service bus partially mounted the pavement on the quay and passed, on the inside, a 66 bus which had begun boarding passengers.

It collided with a group of pedestrians before coming to a halt.

Some at the scene escaped injury or death by throwing themselves against a shopfront as the bus ploughed into those around them. The tragedy was the worst in the history of Dublin Bus.

It was not clear last night why the out-of-service bus careered so badly out of control, as now seems apparent. However, the driver did not suffer a heart attack as some reports suggested. He did not fall ill in any way, according to one source. He is in his 40s and has around 20 years' experience of driving buses.

A full Garda technical examination of the buses has not yet been completed. However, one Garda source said there was no evidence to suggest the bus that collided with the pedestrians had suffered brake failure.

The dead and injured were among a group of people who were attempting to board the number 66 bus at the time. It had parked within six feet of the kerb and it is understood some of the victims were standing on the road when they were struck.

The drivers of both vehicles were interviewed by gardaí at the scene and were later taken to hospital for medical attention.

Both were with counsellors for much of Saturday evening and yesterday. Dublin Bus said the drivers would not be fully interviewed by gardaí until after the counsellors deemed them fit for interview.

The accident happened at 1.25 p.m. at the bus terminus close to the Clarence Hotel. The footpath was packed with Saturday afternoon shoppers and commuters waiting on up to 10 buses that operate from the spot.

Gardaí immediately sealed off the scene and the south quays remained closed for much of Saturday from O'Connell Bridge to Parliament Street.

A team of gardaí set up an incident room in a section of the Clarence Hotel, the bar of which was packed with Welsh visitors in the city for yesterday's rugby international.

Some of the five dead - three women and two men - became trapped under the vehicle. Ambulance and fire crews were on the scene within minutes.

Specialised lifting equipment was used by Dublin fire brigade to suspend the bus off the ground and free those trapped beneath.

The dead and injured were ferried by ambulance to St James's Hospital, St Vincent's University Hospital and the Mater Hospital. Survivors and those who witnessed the tragedy were interviewed by gardaí at the hospitals.

Some 11 victims were taken to St James's. Three of the injured were still there last night where their condition was described as "stable and not critical". The remaining eight were discharged on Saturday.

Four people were taken to St Vincent's. Three of these - two men and a woman - were dead on arrival, according to the hospital. The fourth, a woman, was still in hospital last night. She was stable but not critical, a spokeswoman said.

Six people were taken to the Mater Hospital. Two of these were women who were dead on arrival. The other four were still in hospital last night but their injuries were not regarded as life threatening.

Some of those who remain in the three hospitals underwent surgery on Saturday after having sustained broken limbs, lacerations and loss of blood.

The dead were three women aged 69, 59 and 43. Two were from Dublin and one from Maynooth.

The two men who died were a 43-year-old from Leixlip and a 33-year-old Ukrainian who had been living in Lucan.