THE FINAL JOURNEY OF VICTIMS OF TRAGIC N25 CRASH
SHOCKING LOSS OF LIFE AT BEGERIN
SIRENS and flashing blue lights from several emergency vehicles were the first indications that something terrible had happened on Monday night last.
The scene the gardaí and firemen arrived at on Begerin Hill was one of sheer horror. A car crushed under the weight of a 40ft high, curtain-sided articulated lorry wedged up against an embankment.
The driver of the O’Rourke lorry standing beside it, struggling to make sense of what had just happened. His male passenger, equally stunned.
Chief Superintendent John Roche has been at the scene of scores of accidents in his forty years with the garda force. ‘I thought I had seen it all but that accident at Begerin was the worst,’ he said
The Alexander family had picked up the silver BMW 5 series rental at Dublin Airport having disembarked their flight from Chicago earlier that day, and drove to New Ross, where they met family. They are understood to have stopped to drop off their luggage at the Brandon House Hotel where they were due to stay, before driving to the removal of Lily Alexander’s sister Winifred, from Lacken. Their destination was four kilometres from New Ross on the Ballinaboola, Wexford road.
Tragically their lives were snuffed out at the crest of Begerin Hill, when, while having stopped at the entrance to a house, the driver, Doug Jnr, pulled out onto the road. Their vehicle was struck by the red and white lorry and driven across the road into the embankment, Gardaí are working off the theory that the Alexanders, who were travelling in convoy - believed they had missed their turn and the driver, Doug Jnr, started performing a turn to double back.
The four members of the Alexander family were killed instantly and pronounced dead at the scene. Their lifeless remains cut from the car by local firefighters, prior to being removed to University Hospital Waterford. Post mortems were carried out on Tuesday night.
Supt Roche said it was very fortunate that no car was coming in the other direction, otherwise there would have been further loss of life. ‘If there was a car going west as would have had a triple or quadruple vehicle crash with further serious injury or loss of life.’
A garda liaison officer has been providing support to the Keevey and Ryan families in the wake of the accident. ‘ This was the worst accident we’ve had in recent times. It was just devastating to see four members of one family: two elderly parents and two grown men – taken away in body bags. The mother was coming home to bury her sister. It comes five weeks after a brother and sister, Ann and Sylvester Dempsey, were killed at Larkin’s Cross on November 1,’ Supt Roche said.
The reason the driver of the car made this manoeuvre may never be known. ‘He mustn’t have seen the lights of the truck behind him or maybe he looked over the wrong shoulder. Speed doesn’t appear to have been a factor,’ suggested a baffled first responder on the scene, noting the driver would have been more used to driving on a different side of the road in the US and was driving a car he may not have been familiar with.
Gardaí say driver fatigue may have been a factor, but as the investigation is still at an early stage, all possibilities are being explored.
‘We can only surmise that he might not have looked in the right rearview mirror because in America it would have been on the other side.’
We will never know the answer to what happened. There could have been a number of factors involved.’
Chief Supt Roche visited the scene at 6.45 p.m. ‘ The lorry and the car were embedded in the ditch. They were driving in convoy in the same direction, easterly on the Wexford road. The car was broadsided by the lorry which was travelling behind it and driven across the road into the embankment.’
Describing the road conditions as reasonably good – if a little damp due to the wet winter weather – Supt Roche said the traffic flow was heavy on the road which climbs a long incline to the crest of Begerin Hill where it bends south easterly above Cushinstown. This is where the accident occurred.
‘ The car was struck in the side; the most vulneable part of any vehicle. There is no protection from the engine in front or the chassis in the rear. I have been 40 years a garda and I thought I had seen it all until tonight,’ Supt Roche said.
The stretch of road has claimed the lives of several people over the years, including Carrigbyrne man Johnny Doyle and his mother, who were travelling on the outer lane to New Ross when a UK car came from the other direction over the crest of the hill and failed to move over to the left lane and crashed head on into the Doyle car. The lady and man were travelling to the ferry after a holiday in Ireland and all four died at the scene.
‘ The N25 has had more than its fair share of accidents in recent years. In fairness there have been lots of engineering works on the Begerin stretch which was resurfaced and realigned 18 months ago.’
He urged all motorists to slow down for Christmas. ‘96 per cent of traffic collisions are caused by driver’s actions or inactions or driver error. It only takes a split second to do something you are not supposed to do. Most accidents are a combination of driver fatigue or driver error. Sometimes people don’t wear a seatbelt, or alcohol or drugs are involved.’
Supt Roche complimented the New Ross and Wexford firemen who worked quickly and professionally at the scene and the council workers there. ‘ The work they did was really appreciated by the members of the gardaí there. They were very good. It has to be very heart rending to remove four bodies like that three weeks before Christmas,’ he said.
He urged all motorists to slow down for Christmas. ‘Ninety-six per cent of traffic collisions are caused by driver’s actions or inactions or driver error. It only takes a split second to do something you are not supposed to do.
‘Most accidents are a combination of driver fatigue or driver error. Sometimes people don’t wear a seatbelt, or alcohol or drugs are involved.’
Wexford Chief Fire Officer Paul L’Estrange said the fire service was notified at 6.34 p.m. and were at Cushinstown within 12 minutes.
Two fire appliances attended the scene from New Ross, along with one from Wexford and the senior fire officer from New Ross was also in attendance.
‘The vehicles were on the embankment. I got there at around 7.30 p.m. and left at around 8.45 p.m.’
He said the remains of Douglas, Lily, Douglas Jnr and Steven Alexander were carried from the car – whose roof was cut off by firemen for their removal – once the scenes of crime investigator had completed the investigation.
Cordons were set up and all traffic was diverted from the scene. ‘We made the scene safe and set up cordons as we looked to deal with casualties. Then the guards took over and there was an investigation and we assisted the gardaí. We closed down on site after midnight.’
New Ross firemen returned to the scene early on Tuesday afternoon to clear the road of any oil spill and materials and the vehicles were removed prior to the road being reopened.
New Ross Garda Superintendent John McDonald said: ‘This was the last thing any of us were expecting; the loss of so many people in one accident.’
From an investigation point of view gardaí have conducted a preliminary examination of the scene and await
I HAVE BEEN 40 YEARS A GARDA AND I THOUGHT I HAD SEEN IT ALL UNTIL TONIGHT– SUPT JOHN ROCHE
the findings of the forensic collision investigator and the vehicle service inspection report from their examinations.
Detailed examinations of items obtained from the lorry (including tacographs) and the car will be examined, along with the calibration of distances travelled and braking distances and car positioning. ‘Everything is being examined in order to establish, as best we can, any factors that were involved in the accident.’
A number of statements have been taken from the truck driver and the two occupants of the first vehicle – a jeep which was occupied by a man and a woman from Dublin, who are believed to be related to the Alexanders. They returned to the scene immediately after the crash, where they met other relations, who had gathered for Ms Keevey’s wake.
‘We have gotten great co-operation from witnesses who have helped us to piece the picture together and to see exactly what happened.’
Garda liaison officer John Rochford has been in contact with the surviving Alexander family member, Debbie Ceglarek, relations in Tyrone, where Douglas Snr hails from, and relatives from Limerick, Illinois. He has also been in contact with Bolingbrook Police department, where Steven worked, as well as the US Embassy.
Supt McDonald said a full investigation file for the Director of Public Prosecutions will be prepared over the coming weeks.