A MOTHER-OF-FOUR was killed tragically yesterday morning while taking her children to school.
Caroline Cox, who was in her early 30s, died instantly when her 10-year-old Mitsubishi Pajero 4x4 went out of control on a country road between Collinstown and Oldcastle in Co Meath at about 8.15am.
Ms Cox had been taking her eldest son Seán (15), who was due to celebrate his birthday yesterday, and his sister Shauna (13) to meet the school bus at Skerries Cross taking them to secondary school in Oldcastle.
Seán, Shauna and Ms Cox's other children, Courtney (3) and seven-month-old JJ were injured in the incident. They are described as being in a comfortable condition in the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar, but in a shocked state following the incident.
Leo and Margaret Austin, who live just yards from the crash site, said they went to assist the stricken family when they heard the noise of the vehicle over-turning. They took three of the children, Seán, Courtney and JJ into their house to wait for the emergency services to arrive.
"Seán was looking for his mother. He had lacerations on his head and had lost a lot of blood," Mr Austin said. "Courtney was in shock and was shaking. Our kitchen was like the emergency room of a hospital. The emergency services were superb in the way they acted so fast."
It is believed Shauna was thrown from the vehicle by the force of the crash. The couple gave her blankets but did not move her because she complained about her back. "We thought she had a spinal injury. We were afraid to move her," said Mr Austin.
The road had recently been resurfaced and was unlikely to have been the cause of the incident. Gardaí are investigating the possibility that Ms Cox lost control of the vehicle on a sharp dip in the road, causing it to overturn.
David Moore, a local man who brought blankets to the scene, said: "I will never forget the sound of the glass breaking as we tried to take the children out of the car. The road was in a very good condition, but has a reputation for extreme frost and black ice because it is in a dip."
Ms Cox lived with her partner John in a new local authority estate in The Hills, on the Delvin road in the village of Collinstown. They had previously lived in Mullingar and were one of the first families to move into the estate two years ago. John worked at Mergon International, a plastics factory in Castlepollard. The company extended its sympathy to him and his family yesterday.
The family's neighbour, Rachel Sweeney, said: "It's horrible, absolutely terrible. My son is the same age as Courtney . . . It's terrible for those children to be left without a mother."
Local councillor Paddy Hill said the village had suffered economic woes in recent months with large redundancies at Iralco, the largest employer in Collinstown. "This tragedy puts it all in perspective."
James Bannon, a local Fine Gael TD who knew the family, said: "It has left a huge cloud of sadness hanging over the area." The rapid response of people in the locality was commendable, he added.