Gardaí in Co Cork are appealing for witnesses to a single-vehicle crash this morning which claimed the life of a student nurse returning home after working a night shift in a Cork hospital.
The woman, who is in her 20s, was fatally injured when her car left the N25 just beyond the Waterock junction near Midleton and struck a wall and a tree at about 8.25am.
Emergency services were alerted and paramedics attended to the woman but she was pronounced dead at the scene after being removed from her vehicle.
The body of the young woman was taken to Cork University Hospital where a postmortem examination is expected to take place later today.
The main N25 remains closed eastbound and diversions have been put in place as gardaí carry out a forensic investigation at the scene.
Inquiry
The woman was working as a student nurse at Cork University Hospital and was living in Midleton town.
One line of inquiry which gardaí are exploring is that the woman may have finished a night shift at the hospital and may have fallen asleep as she was driving home to Midleton.
Gardaí have appealed to anyone who may have been travelling on the N25 between 8.15am and 8.30am and witnessed the crash to contact them at Midleton Garda station on 021 462 1550.
The woman’s death is the third fatality on Cork roads this year and follows the death of a 73-year-old pedestrian in Clonakilty on January 15th and an 84-year-old motorist near Midleton on January 22nd.