Tourist struck by bus in Dublin dies

One of the two UK tourists knocked down by a bus in the city centre of Dublin last week has died in hospital, gardaí said yesterday.

Marie Buckland (60) suffered serious head injuries when she was hit by a double-decker bus on O'Connell Street. She was taken to St James's Hospital, and was on a ventilator for a week.

Family and friends travelled from her home in Atherstone, North Warwickshire, to be at her bedside, but it is understood she never regained consciousness.

Originally from Sligo, Ms Buckland had been on holiday in Mayo, and had travelled to Dublin to shop with a friend, Jagdish Mangat, before returning to her home in Birmingham.

Both women were crossing O'Connell Street at The Spire from the North Earl Street side to catch a bus to Dublin airport when the accident occurred.

Ms Mangat (56) was also injured, and taken to the Mater hospital. She was released the following day.

It later emerged that Ms Buckland's handbag, understood to contain her passport and more than €1,000 in cash, and a wheeled suitcase went missing after the accident.

A spokeswoman for Dublin Bus offered condolences to the family of Ms Buckland, and said the investigation into the accident would be completed within a week.

She added that the company had given a €2,000 cheque to the Garda to be passed to the family before Ms Buckland's death.

"When we heard about the robbery we were disgusted and offered the cheque quietly as a purely humanitarian gesture to replace the belongings."

A Garda investigation into the accident is also under way led by the divisional traffic unit, and Store Street gardaí are looking for witnesses to the robbery.

It is understood gardaí are confident of identifying the thieves using CCTV footage from cameras in the area.