Evidence was heard at a coroner’s inquiry on Monday concerning the tragic death of Jessica McLoughlin, a 40-year-old resident of Rusheen Ard, Caltragh, who was struck and fatally injured by a train near Ballisodare, Co Sligo, during last year’s summer season. The incident took place after train driver Padraig O’Gara spotted two women, one being the ill-fated McLoughlin and the other her niece Rebecca Leydon, moving towards the oncoming train and was forced to sound the horn and initiate emergency braking.
Leydon, 26, provided a statement outlining that she and McLoughlin had boarded a train around 1pm, bound for Dublin for a day’s outing. After alighting in Collooney due to Leydon having left her phone behind in Sligo, the pair decided to walk back along the railway track. Unaware of the train’s schedule, Leydon admitted to feeling guilty about the incident.
According to Leydon, the two women did hear the train’s horn but brushed it off, believing they were not in danger of being hit. However, it was the protruding steps of the train that struck them. Leydon sustained a broken leg from the incident and required staples in two areas. Following the incident, Leydon expressed her deep loss for her aunt who had been there for her over the years, even providing a bed when she was without a home.
On the day of the tragedy, O’Gara remembered driving the 15:05 train from Dublin to Sligo. As the train came up from the Ballisodare water bridge, O’Gara noticed two women in the distance walking on the track in the direction of the train. Despite O’Gara applying the brakes and sounding the horn, only one woman was able to jump clear in time. McLoughlin, unfortunately, found herself on the wrong side of the tracks, ultimately leading to her untimely demise.
“He informed further: “The horn of the train was consistently sounded knowing she hadn’t cleared the way. She met with an accident with the train’s side.” Coroner of Sligo, Eamonn MacGowan reassured Mr O’Gara that nothing else could’ve been done by him to circumvent the lady.
As the train was halting, Mr O’Gara reported he called the signal controller at Connolly Station, Dublin, and solicited for an ambulance, the fire brigade, and gardaí help. He announced to them his precise location along with the closest accessibility point.
His coworker, Greg Flanagan, a ticket inspector, who was in a rear cab at the moment, declared in a testimony that he and Mr O’Gara were the sole Irish Rail employees on the train. When the train completely stopped, Mr O’Gara was contacted by him to assess his wellbeing.
“Having peeked out of the window, I was aware of the incident as I noticed a lady lying about 100m back on the line’s side,” he informed. He noticed two women when he stepped onto the site, with one crying and making efforts to get up. “I saw the other lady groaning while lying on the land, she appeared to have taken significant injuries to her abdomen.”
Paramedic Kieran Currid revealed that upon arriving at the scene, one of the ladies was conversing but the other wasn’t responding, with a serious injury to her lower left side. He noted that Ms McLoughlin had a pulse and that they treated her injuries, but she later went into cardiac arrest. Despite initiating CPR, her death was proclaimed at the scene by a doctor at 4.28pm.
An autopsy demonstrated that the death of Ms McLoughlin occurred as a result of multiple injuries taken due to the collision. Toxicology reports revealed alcohol, cocaine, and prescription medications in her body.
Mr MacGowan provided a narrative judgment stating that Ms McLoughlin died on the Knox Park, Ballisodare railway line, from injuries inflicted from a collision with a train, set against a backdrop of drug and alcohol inebriation.
Expressing condolence towards the deceased’s family, he stated: “It is indeed regrettable to have lost Jessica, who was young.”
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