Four people killed in Dublin when tenement dwellings collapse.
In June 1963 four people were killed and a number of others injured when tenement houses collapsed in two separate incidents on Bolton Street and Fenian Street in Dublin.
On 2 June 1963 an elderly couple were hurled to their deaths when their tenement dwelling collapsed shortly after 5 am. The three-storey building near Bolton Street Technical Institute was joined with other houses in the process of being demolished.
Leo and Mary Maples who occupied the second-storey flat were buried under rubble and found dead by emergence services called to the scene.
Other families living in the building had miraculous escapes.
Seven other people were rescued from the rubble and brought to hospital.
On 12 June 1963 two children were killed when the three-storey tenements at numbers 3 and 4 Fenian Street collapsed. The children, Linda Byrne aged nine and eight year old Marie Vardy were playing in street front of the houses. They were buried under rubble when the front of one of the buildings fell outward. The collapse may have been caused by the previous day's rainstorm.
Many people living in old houses in Dublin moved out into the street.
Following the deaths of the two girls, emergency measures were taken by Dublin Corporation officials regarding some 50 other houses in the city.
This report is from an end of year news review in December 1963. The reporter is John Ross.
