A woman and her two daughters died after their car plunged off a pier into Kinvarra Bay, an inlet on the southern shores of Galway Bay, at lunchtime yesterday.
Gardai would not officially confirm the identities of the three late last night until all the next-of-kin had been informed.
However, it is understood that the woman was in her late 30s and that the two girls were aged nine and six. They lived in Galway city.
A local man who witnessed the circumstances described how he saw a car driving at speed to Tarrea pier shortly after 1 p.m. yesterday. Mr Tony Jordan, a painter and decorator, was out walking at the time.
He said the woman parked briefly about 10 yards from the pier edge, got out of the car and walked towards the water. She returned, appeared to check that her two children were in the vehicle, and then drove on.
The car travelled about 10 feet before hitting the water. "I saw it gradually sinking", Mr Jordan told The Irish Times.
He raced to a bungalow on a rise and dialled 999.
Garda Michael Harte was one of the first on the scene after the emergency call, which was logged at 1.17 p.m.
A local diver, Mr Eugene Houlihan, pulled two bodies out of the water with the help of the Galway inshore lifeboat and the Gort and Galway fire brigades. The Irish Coastguard's Doolin coast and cliff rescue unit was also called out, but the operation was over by the time it arrived.
Attempts were made to resuscitate the two people pulled from the water. They were rushed to University College Hospital in Galway, but emergency medical assistance was in vain. Shortly after 4 p.m. it was confirmed they had died.
A third body, that of a child, could only be removed after the car had been lifted to shallower water with the help of a crane. The child was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Supt Paul Mockler, of Gort Garda station, said that the event was shocking and his team was trying to piece together the circumstances which had led up to it.
Weather in the area was good at the time, with dry conditions and a light south-westerly breeze.
