An American couple in their 60s have died after they were thrown from a pony and trap into a rocky ravine on a road in Killarney, Ireland.
The “freak accident” occurred after the pony reportedly bolted in the Gap of Dunloe beauty spot, a narrow mountain pass in County Kerry, south-west Ireland.
According to local reports the tourists were on holiday from Phoenix, Arizona, and had been travelling with the woman’s daughter, her daughter’s husband and two young children.
They were travelling behind but did not see the accident, the Irish Times reported.
The trap reportedly fell on top of the couple who had fallen at least 12ft onto the rocks in the ravine. The driver – a local man in his 40s – jumped clear and avoided serious injury but was treated by paramedics for shock.
The couple were pronounced dead at the scene. Police closed the road and the bodies were taken to University Hospital Kerry for postmortems.
Niall Kelleher, the mayor of Killarney, said the county was in shock over the accident.
“The Gap of Dunloe is one of the most naturally beautiful places in the entire country but there is a very dark cloud overhead this evening as everybody tries to comes to terms with what has happened,” Mr Kelleher said.
Superintendent Flor Murphy of Killarney Garda Station said the incident was being investigated as a road traffic collision as it happened on a public roadway, according to the Irish Times.
The paper spoke to a local source who added: “It’s a freak accident and the tragedy is that if this happened, say, 50 yards down the road we wouldn’t even be talking about it because the couple would have landed into soft boggy ground. Unfortunately it happened beside a rocky ravine and they ended up landing on the rocks.”
The investigating officers are hoping to speak to the driver in the coming days.
The area is a popular tourist destination and horse and traps have been a common means of transport there for over a hundred years.
