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Baby Survives Fatal Crash In Canal After Daring Rescue Attempt

Thursday, 22 December 2011

A 30-year-old Indian woman, who was working as a nurse in Shinrone, died last weekend when the car in which she was travelling with her partner and baby skidded on black-ice and left the road before plunging into the freezing waters of the Grand Canal near Cloghan.
Beena Jacob, who had been living in Shinrone for almost a month and worked in the Clover Lodge Nursing Home in the village centre, passed away on Sunday after suffering serious injuries in the crash.
Her eight-month-old baby boy miraculously escaped the incident without injury, after Ms. Jacob's partner escaped the partly submerged vehicle and rescued the toddler from the icy water.
The woman was taken to Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe but was pronounced dead that evening. The other occupants were also taken to Hospital in Ballinasloe with minor injuries.
The road was closed for a forensic examination but re-opened on Sunday night. A postmortem was carried out on Monday and Ms. Jacobs' body will be repatriated to India on Friday.
Chairman of the Bangher Sub-Aqua Club, Kevin Leybourne, who happened to be out walking in the area at the time, risked his life in an attempt to rescue Ms. Jacob by diving into the eight-foot deep canal, but couldn't release the trapped woman's safety belt.
Mr. Leybourne, who spotted Ms. Jacob's partner Jibi and son Noel standing on the roof of the sinking car shouting for help, told the Tribune there was an 'inch of ice on top of the canal' when he jumped in to try and aid the trapped woman.
'The man had already managed to get himself and the baby out of the car by the time I arrived, but couldn't get his wife out. He told me his wife was still in the canal so I jumped in to try and save her. The two back wheels were still sticking out of the water at that stage,' Mr. Leybourne told the Tribune.
'I managed to get the back door open but I couldn't release her from the safety-belt. I rang a friend who lives nearby and we managed to cut her free and get her up onto the bank of the canal. We tried to resuscitate her but she was already unconscious and she never showed any signs of life,' the Chairman of Banagher's Sub-Aqua Club told this newspaper.
The tragic accident, which has plunged the area into shock in the days leading up to Christmas, happened at dinner time on Sunday at Clononey Bridge, on the road between Cloghan and Shannonbridge.
The family, who originally came from the southern state of Kerala in India, were travelling over a humpback-bridge on their journey from church in Knock, Co. Mayo.
Gardaí say the bridge was covered in black-ice, causing the car to leave the road and slide down an embankment before partly entering the Grand Canal.
The family's car did not strike the walls of the bridge in the incident and the area is known to locals as a particularly treacherous stretch of road, which has been the site of several accidents in recent years.
Local Councillor, Sinead Moylan Ryan (FF), told the Tribune the road was 'like an ice-rink' at the weekend and said that despite numerous calls for salt to combat the persistent issue of black-ice in the area, the road was not treated with grit because it does not fall under the remit of Offaly County Council's Winter Maintenance Plan.
Veronica McNamara, Director of Operations at Clover Lodge Nursing Home in Shinrone, told the Tribune the staff at the Nursing Home are 'absolutely devastated' at the tragic news of their colleague.
In 2006 Ms. Jacobs began working in Ireland at a nursing home in Fermoy, Co. Cork, before moving to to Shinrone in November.
Birr Gardaí have yet to speak to anyone who observed the crash and are appealing for anyone with information about the road conditions in the area on Sunday or who witnessed the crash to contact them at (057) 9120016, The Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.

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