GARDA Declan Fawl has moved to clarify the role he played in the aftermath of a single vehicle crash at Ballycar on Wednesday.
“I arrived at the scene after the call came in and at no stage did I pull anyone from a burning car,” he said.
He confirmed his role had been limited to making sure the area was safe following the crash, in which a couple and a young child were in a car that overturned. “People were moved to a safe distance, the area was secured and the fire brigade arrived a short time later as the car was alight.”
Local woman Aideen O’Hanlon was one of the first people who came upon the accident, in which the three passengers had a lucky escape. “I came onto the scene seconds after it happened. The car was upside down. Myself and two other men went over to help them. The couple were in the front and they crawled out the back themselves. The man unhooked his own child. We helped them get up off the ground and out of the car, but none of us went into the car after them. There was a flame at the engine when we were doing that, so we got them out as quick as possible.”
She said that the couple had shown a lot of initiative to free themselves and their child from the vehicle, while she said the people, including herself, who had came on the crash assisted them then. The three individuals sat into Aideen’s car as they waited for the emergency services to arrive to the scene, and they did not have any serious injuries.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.