‘We tried to lift the cart off them but they were already gone by that point’
British tourist said the roads were ‘thin, and just not safe’
A BRITISH tourist has described the horrific moment a jaunting car went off the road throwing two North American tourists into a rocky ravine in the Gap of Dunloe killing them both.
Stewart Ainsley was driving in a car behind the horse and cart when he saw the horrific tragedy involving Rosalyn Joy Few, 64, a US citizen, and her Canadian partner Normand Larose, 62, unfold within a ‘matter of seconds’.
‘We think he was going too fast, the horse. But by the time he decided to brake, obviously the cart must have went into the back of the horse, causing the horse to panic … then the horse took off,’ Mr Ainsley told RTÉ’s Liveline yesterday. Mr Ainsley and his brother then joined the rescue efforts.
‘Me and my brother just climbed down and helped release the horse and lift the cart off the man and woman, but they were already dead by that point.
‘The horse was stuck, we had to release the horse.’
Mr Ainsley said that he found it ‘hard to believe’ that horses were even allowed to travel through the Gap of Dunloe due to the condition of the roads
He told presenter Joe Duffy: ‘They’re just thin and steep and narrow, and they’re just not safe, as you can see from what happened on Monday.’
The tourist was on holiday in the area with his partner, his brother and his brother’s partner, and was in a car with his brother when the horse and cart plunged off the road. Mr Ainsley said they tried to comfort the couple’s family, who were nearby when the accident unfolded.
‘We just asked the family if they wanted to get warm in our car but they didn’t want to.
‘I think they thought, they were maybe still alive.’
Once they believed the couple were dead, they kept the bodies covered until help arrived around 45 minutes later, he said.
The precise cause of the accident is not yet known but it’s understood the carriage appeared to slide down a natural water drain that leads from the road to scattered granite boulders.
The location of the drain may have made it harder for the pony to regain its grip once it slid off the road.
Some of the boulders in the area also have sharp, serrated edges facing out towards the road.
Gardaí are investigating whether the couple hit their heads on the granite rocks when they landed.
The site is just before a turn in the road that leads down to a lake along the Gap of Dunloe. The gap is a popular beauty spot among the 1.1 million tourists who visit Killarney every year and is located around 10km from the town. It is a short distance from Killarney National Park and Carrauntoohil Mountain.
Garda Superintendent Flor Murphy told Radio Kerry that Garda liaison officers were helping the grieving family.
‘We are giving them every assistance
‘Can’t believe horses are allowed’
‘All apsects will be looked at’
with the formalities here and in relation to repatriating the remains,’ Supt. Murphy said.
‘We are helping them deal with the airlines, undertakers and the embassy. It’s a very sad tragedy; we don’t know why the horse and car went off the road at that point, but all aspects will be looked at to determine that.’