Sligo train tragedy: ‘Please look after my kids… tell them I love them from the top of their heads to the bottom of their toes’

18 comments

  1. Posted because it was the subject of much conjecture.

    >The obvious question is why were they on the track in the first place.

    >The answer to that question is etched with guilt for Rebecca. They had got off the train, she says, at Collooney because she had left her phone at a Centra shop opposite the train station in Sligo.

    >They felt “stranded and a bit panicked and the easiest way back was for them to follow the tracks at that time”, her mother Dervilla adds.

  2. Terrible tragedy and my condolences to all concerned. I have been wondering since I heard about this why they didnt move to the side of the track when the train was approaching. Apparently the driver was sounding the horn and the train itself must have been making a lot of noise,

  3. If the train was honking for all that time why didn’t it emergency brake?

    Why did these two not move? Senseless deaths and slot of answers required

  4. ISSUES.

    Apparently they were on the 1.05pm train Sligo to Dublin but got off at Collooney as the niece left her phone at the Centra opposite McDiarmada station. So they decided to walk back to get it and were hit by the 3.05pm train.

    Must have been walking pretty slowly to be still on the tracks nearly 2 hours later. Paper says they were going to Dublin “for the day”. Surely boarding the lunchtime train is leaving it a bit late for that? Also mentions that “Jessica had her struggles in life” and went missing for 10 days earlier this year in England.

    Why would you do a national interview from a hospital bed when four young children are grieving their mother? Some things are best kept private within the family and close friends. Baffling.

    Something not right about this.

    As I said, ISSUES.

  5. an emergency stop is going to injure many on the train, possibly kill a passenger too. reasonable to attempt same if there is obstruction on the line that could cause derailment. now when these two poor women were seen there was probably no realistic chance of stopping in time for them but a big chance if engaging the emergency stop hurting people on the train. a terrible choice for the driver.

  6. They likely thought they were fine/far enough away to be safe where they were crouching off the track. There are multiple reasons there is a yellow line you’re not supposed to cross on train platforms. You could get sucked in when a train passes at high speed, you could get hit by something attached to the side of the train. They likely didn’t know and thought they were safe because they were off the track.

    I’m very sorry for them and their family and sorry for the driver.

  7. I’m sorry but that is so ghoulish, going to a girl who experienced a horrible tragedy whilst still in hospital, taking a photo of her there and making her recount her aunt’s last words… what a scummy, tabloidy thing to do

  11. Risking your life by walking on train tracks, all for a feckin phone when you have 4 kids at home 😣 That poor girl will have to live with that stupid decision for the rest of her life.

  13. There’s something not sitting right with this story. The reporting from the start always seemed like they were skirting around something or other. And then the following morning all the press treat her statement as big breaking news. The fact she released a statement in itself is odd.

    Many people are maligning the Independent here and sure belt away, but it’s not like they sneaked their way into the room, they asked with some type of offer and she said yes and agreed to photos.

    It’s unusual is all I’m saying.

  16. Why are people/officials afraid to state the obvious and point out that trespassing on a live rail track is absolute madness?

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