TWO EYE-WITNESSES to the freak accident at the Connacht Gold DIY and Garden Centre in Longford town yesterday said they did “all they could” for the victims.
Two men, one aged 47 and the other in his sixties, died and four others were injured when the nine metre high internal wall collapsed and fell on them.
Elizabeth Fallon and her son Bernard were shopping in the store at the time. Speaking on RTÉ Morning Edition, Elizabeth recalls the moment before the wall came down:
There were two doors open where we were standing at the counter and you could see down to where the animal feed was placed. The wind was roaring into that area and I could see the lights shaking and the roof shaking… I had a feeling the whole wall was going to come down.
After that moment, Elizabeth said she heard an “awful noise” and could see the wall falling down. “We started running and it came down just a couple of foot behind us. When we got to the door we realised we were the only two standing,” she said.
When Bernard and Elizabeth went back to help the victims, they recalled that “some had broken limbs, some had head injuries.”
One man who Elizabeth grew up near and had just been speaking to at the counter a few minutes before was calling for his wife who was out in the car. “I had to go out to the car and bring her back in,” said Elizabeth. “It was very hard.”
Bernard said he waited with and spoke to the two men who were injured. “That’s all I could do… It was just so tragic how it happened,” he added.
The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) have launched an investigation into the death of two men.
Yesterday, the CEO of Connacht Gold Aaron Forde said the company is co-operating with investigations into the cause of the accident.
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