Dna required to identify man whose car burst into flames after crashing

A bus driver has told an inquest of his efforts to quench a roadside inferno near Newport in which a 34-year-old man died after his car left the road and ploughed upside-down into a tree.

Michael O'Haire, Castlebar Road, Newport, got a fire extinguisher and single-handedly tackled the blaze which had engulfed a Saab car driven by Mark McKenna, who had an address at McCormack Estate, Castlebar.

Mr. McKenna died in the accident at Comploon, Newport, which occurred around 1.30 a.m. on September 27 last.

Medical evidence was given to the hearing that Mr. McKenna had suffered severe limb injuries which would have prevented him getting out of the vehicle as the fire took hold.

Mr. O'Haire, who was leaving two passengers home at the time, told the inquest the flames were around the engine when he came on the scene.

After telling one of the bus passengers to alert the gardaí by phone, Mr. O'Haire went to his nearby home, collected a fire extinguisher, and returned to the car.

In a statement to gardaí, he explained: “I jumped into the bushes and began putting the fire out. I tried to get the driver out. I couldn't get the door handles open.

“The car was surrounded by bushes/trees. It was on its roof. I tried everything that I could possibly do to open the doors.

“Then the flames had grown again and I was overcome with smoke. I had to leave the immediate area. I stood back onto the road. I could not have done anything more to help this man.

“The gardaí arrived soon afterwards. They took control.”

After the fire, the crashed vehicle was burnt out and the remains within were completely unidentifiable. It took DNA tests to later make a positive identification of the victim.

Garda PSV inspector Sergeant Gabriel McLoughlin told the coroner, John O'Dwyer, the engine had been pulled from the car body by the impact.

It was not unusual, Sergeant O'Dwyer continued in reply to a question from the coroner, for a car to go on fire in a situation where petrol was flowing onto a hot engine.

Dr. Fadel Bennani, consultant pathologist, who carried out a post-mortem examination, said a number of fractures sustained by the driver would have prevented him from getting out of the vehicle when it burst into flames.

The coroner, who returned an open verdict, said that in his view Michael O'Haire had endangered himself by going to the driver's rescue.