One of the busiest roads in Co Clare was closed for several hours on Monday while a major operation was mounted to remove a crashed articulated lorry from a ditch.
The incident occurred at around 10am about 4 kilometres from Lissycasey. The driver is understood to have escaped injury after his truck ploughed down an embankment and came to rest on its side. Gardaí from Kilrush station responded to the scene.
The delivery truck, which was travelling towards Ennis at the time, appears to have left the road, travelled along the top of the ditch before coming to a stop off the roadway.
Gardaí later confirmed that the road would have to be fully closed for a time later in the day to facilitate the removal of the truck.
A heavy-duty crane was later called in to lift the truck from the ditch. That operation was expected to take about an hour but took considerably longer.
Traffic was diverted off the main route via local routes while the recovery operation was undertaken. The truck was finally removed from the scene at around 9.00pm.
Units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service were requested to attend the incident to clear the road of mud and other debris following the incident.
The N68 was reopened to traffic shortly after 10.00pm.
In February 2024, another delivery truck operated by the same supermarket chain, left the road at Cahera on the N68, about 10 kilometres from the scene of today’s incident. The route was closed for several hours until the truck was safely recovered from the scene.
