Eyewitness describes aftermath of Alitalia flight crash at Clonloghan Cemetery near Shannon Airport.
Italian airline Alitalia flight 618 was travelling from Rome, Italy to New York, USA. The plane carrying 52 people had taken off from Shannon Airport after a short stopover but came down and hit the wall of the graveyard at Clonloghan on the morning of 26 February 1960.
Reporter John Ross describes the crash site and surrounding area strewn with debris and bits of fuselage.
A great wide sway of burned grass and scattered bits and pieces of airplane
The land around the hill top the plane hit had been churned by the impact and bits of the aircraft were still smouldering. Many personal items were scattered in the trail of destruction.
Overnight bags, novels in Italian, a child's toy bear, scraps of clothing, bits of leather, a cake of soap
The O'Dea family were lucky that the plane and debris narrowly missed their farm house. O'Dea family members were quickly out trying to assist shortly after impact. Irene O'Dea describes the immediate aftermath and coming across the dead and injured passengers among the debris.
It looked like bits of an atomic bomb more than an airplane
A nurse in St Vincent's Hospital, Irene O'Dea recounts how along with other family members rescued a number of passengers, including a young boy, who was uninjured, and bringing him to safety.
The rescue efforts by local poeple were made more difficult by the language barrier, with most passengers speaking Italian.
Irene O'Dea says two priests onboard the flight asked to be granted Absolution, two local priests attending the scene were able to provide this to the injured men.
The report was broadcast on Radio Éireann News. The reporter is John Ross.
Alitalia Flight 618 was a scheduled service from Rome, Italy, to New York, USA, with a refueling stop at Shannon, Ireland. The aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from Shannon Airport, striking the stone wall and grave stones of Clonloghan Church. The aircraft was completely destroyed by the impact and subsequent explosion and fire.
The crash resulted in the death of 34 people, with 18 surviving the accident, one steward and seventeen passengers.
This recording is from the RTÉ Archives Acetate Disc Collection which has been digitised with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) Archiving Scheme.
