Couple’s dice with death as car careers off Salthill Promenade

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – An elderly couple had a miraculous escape from drowning at Salthill Prom this week, after their car veered out of control and lay precariously balanced at water’s edge on the rocks as high-tide approached.

The driver of the car – a man in his early 80s – and his wife, also in her 80s, were rescued from the car by passers-by before emergency services arrived on the scene a few minutes later.

Three pedestrians, who were walking along the Prom, were also ‘brushed’ by the car, which is understood to have been travelling towards the direction of Blackrock.

One theory being examined in relation to the incident is that the driver of the car may have fallen asleep or unconscious.

Gardaí and emergency services expressed relief that the couple had escaped unscathed from the incident, which they said could have been catastrophic had the car flipped over into the water.

The couple, along with the three pedestrians who were hit by it, were taken by ambulance to University Hospital Galway as a precautionary measure but were released later that evening.

According to eye witnesses, the incident occurred at around 4.30pm on Wednesday just beside the Dalysfort Road junction and just across the road from the Coco Café and Western House.

The blue Nissan Micra car veered out of control before mounting the kerb and then slipping down over the rocks before eventually stopping at the edge of the water.

A couple who were walking along the Prom immediately made their way to the car and first got the driver out of the car before then helping the woman front-seat passenger to safety, also via the driver’s door.

This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the rest of the story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.