Five taken to hospital after pub collapses into street in Co Mayo village

Five people are receiving treatment in hospital after a pub in a Co Mayo village collapsed on Tuesday morning.

Duffy’s pub collapsed in Kilkelly at about 8.45am, collapsing on top of a parked van and covering the pathway and part of the road in rubble.

Those injured are not believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries, gardai said.

The main street in Kilkelly has been closed and local diversions are in place.

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) said it has launched an investigation into the incident.

Paul Lawless, a Mayo-based peace commissioner, praised the work of the emergency services and said the incident could have been a lot worse.

He said he hoped that those injured get well soon and said his thoughts were with the owners of Duffy’s pub.

“It’s very sad to see a building with so much history, a business that served the people of the region for over 100 years as a pub and grocer, brought to its knees this morning.

“Kevin and Maureen Duffy ran an excellent establishment; it’s a big blow to all the family and the entire community.

“It’s truly a miracle that no-one was killed or badly injured. Fortunately, the incident occurred when the street was quiet, and schools were on mid-term break, sparing potential casualties.”

He said that locals were “in shock” and “disbelief” that the pub had been reduced to “rubble in seconds”.

“And I think we’re very lucky in the sense that had it been a school day, perhaps there would have been much more footfall – passing traffic, children on the footpath.”

He added: “Credit to the emergency services and the gardai. My understanding is that they were on the scene very, very quickly and because the building wasn’t totally collapsed, they were working under hazardous conditions themselves to help the people involved, so a huge credit to them.

“I think they came from Charlestown, Swinford and Kiltimagh fire stations, so they were very, very quick on the scene here – they would (belong) to retained fire services in the area.”