Woman loses foot in DART horror

Conor Feehan

A YOUNG woman had her right foot sliced off following a horror fall under a DART train at Dublin's Tara Street station.

Coronas singer Danny O'Reilly – a friend of the victim – attempted to help the woman and pull her to safety.

The woman is believed to have fallen after leaning against a carriage which began moving.

Danny (27) was part of the group that was with the woman when the accident occurred on Sunday.

The incident happened as the woman, who is in her 30s, was on her way home from a Christening with a group of friends when she fell down a gap between the train and the platform on Sunday.

She had to have part of her leg amputated.

The young woman, believed to be from Palmerstown in west Dublin, was with a group of about 15 friends.

Tragic

Among the group was Danny O'Reilly. The woman is understood to be a friend of both Danny and his mother, singer Mary Black.

She fell on to the track and her leg was run over by the back end of the Greystones to Howth DART which had already started to pull out from the station.

The driver was unaware that the woman had fallen and closed the doors and continued on his journey to the next stop at Connolly Station.

Onlookers said friends made a brave effort to rescue her.

Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny described the incident as a "tragic, if not freak, accident".

Sources said that there was no suggestion of "horseplay" and no alcohol was involved.

Emergency services were dispatched and the woman was rushed to St James's Hospital, but one of her legs was so badly injured that it had to be amputated below the knee.

Investigators are now closely examining CCTV to see how the tragedy occurred.

cfeehan@herald.ie