Second person dies after Perth car crash

A second Irish person has died as a result of a car crash in Perth, Western Australia, last week.

Kiara Duncan (20) from Co Meath died in hospital on Saturday night, having been on a life-support machine since the crash last Wednesday in which her friend Colm Reilly lost his life.

The two were among a group of six Irish tourists and a 19-year- old British woman, who were travelling in a Toyota Corolla on a road northeast of Perth when the vehicle went out of control.

The car jumped a median strip, flipped on to its roof and crossed to the wrong side of the road, where it collided with a car being driven by a 63-year-old woman.

Three other Irish people, two women and a man, aged between 19 and 25, were treated for serious injuries. The driver of the second car was not thought to have received life threatening injuries.

Family members said they were hoping the Government could clear up confusion about the requirements for bringing a body home.

On the Gerry Ryan Showon RTÉ radio yesterday, Sharon Brady, an aunt of Ms Duncan, said the family had been told a certificate stating the body was disease-free would be required before it could be brought into Ireland. She said Audrey Duncan, Kiara's mother, had been advised that such a certification would require a postmortem, and the family were anxious to avoid further trauma.

However a spokesman for the Customs Service said he knew nothing about such a requirement, nor did the Department of Health or the Department of the Environment.

While he said Customs would require a death certificate from a civil registrar and a form from the transport provider, "we don't know anything about a disease-free certificate, we have just never heard of it and our checking indicates other departments have never heard of such a thing either. Maybe it is an Australian regulation."