A man has died after a minibus struck a bridge in Co Limerick in the early hours of Sunday.
The incident occurred at around 2.55am at Athlunkard Bridge on the R463 Corbally Road.
Gardaí said the male driver (30), who was the sole occupant of the vehicle at the time, was fatally injured.
He was named locally as Darren Ryan from Meelick, a father of one and minibus contractor. One of triplet boys, Mr Ryan and his brothers Evan and Gavin played for St Munchins RFC and Young Munster RFC.
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“Darren was the nicest fella, he would have been very involved in St Munchins College rugby team, his family are a very talented and sporting family, they run a farm and a coach hire business in Meelick, they’ve all been high achievers, they’d be inspirational local people,” said a family friend.
“He was a fabulous fella, you couldn’t meet nicer, it’s devastating, just shocking.”
His body has since been removed to University Hospital Limerick where a postmortem will be carried out.
“The R463 at Athlunkard Bridge, Corbally is currently closed with local diversions in place,” An Garda Síochána said in a statement. “The services of Forensic Collision Investigators have been requested.”
Gardaí at Henry Street in Limerick are investigating the incident and have appealed to anyone who witnessed the crash or who may have relevant CCTV or dash-cam footage to come forward.
Anyone with informaton should contact Henry Street station on (061) 212 400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.
Separately, a pedestrian in her 70s has died following an incident on the N67 in Co Clare on Saturday evening.
The collision involving a van and happened at Moyasta on the road between Kilrush and Kilkee at about 7.40pm.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene and her body was removed to University Hospital Limerick where a postmortem is to take place.
No one else was injured in the incident and the road is due to be forensically examined. Gardaí appealed to any witnesses to come forward.