AN ANNUAL outing to the races for a group of An Post staff and friends from Co Wexford ended in tragedy yesterday when their minibus crashed in icy conditions killing one passenger and injuring several others.
Breda O’Connor (41), Ballagh, Co Wexford, was pronounced dead at the scene after the minibus, which was taking the 19 people from Enniscorthy and Gorey to the Leopardstown races, overturned on a slip road off the N11 Gorey bypass at about 10am.
Ms O’Connor, a mother of three, was thrown through the window of the bus after it struck a roadside embankment and overturned at the Tinnock interchange north of Gorey.
Gardaí described the driving conditions as “treacherous”.
Her body was removed to Waterford Regional Hospital where a postmortem was due to be carried out last night.
Ms O’Connor, originally from Curracloe, had worked for a number of years in the Curracloe post office run by her family.
She had been employed as a counter assistant in the Castlebridge post office.
Six other injured passengers, including a man with two broken legs, were taken to St Vincent’s hospital in Dublin, but none of the injuries was said to be life-threatening.
The remaining passengers were treated for minor injuries and shock at Wexford General Hospital.
The icy road conditions seriously hampered emergency services attempting to attend the scene.
An ambulance responding to the crash from Arklow overturned on an icy stretch of the N11 near Inch, about a mile from the main crash site, but no one was injured.
A Garda patrol car also attempting to attend the scene crashed into the ditch after skidding on ice.
Several cars, which had stopped at the scene of the main crash on the N11, were rear-ended by other vehicles skidding on the ice but no one was injured.
A Garda spokesman said that the road was like glass yesterday morning after it rained on top of the overnight frost.
“It highlights the need for people to drive with extreme caution in this type of weather,” he said.
Both the southbound and northbound carriageways of the N11 motorway between junctions 21 and 23 were closed for several hours yesterday while the injured were taken to hospital and gardaí examined scene of the crash.
A statement from An Post said: “Workers and postmasters the breadth of the country extend deepest sympathies to Breda’s family.
“This dreadful accident has shocked and saddened us all. Our thoughts are also with our injured colleagues and the others who were hurt. We wish them a speedy recovery.”