A 44-year-old woman has died and two children are receiving treatment in hospital after a car in which they were travelling entered the River Lee in Cork city.
The incident happened at Kennedy Quay at around 8.45pm last night. The alarm was raised by members of the public.
It was high tide when the incident happened and bystanders managed to pull the two children, who had freed themselves from the car, from the water.
The children, two boys aged ten and 12, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. They were taken to Cork University Hospital where they underwent a medical assessment and treatment for shock.
The emergency services, including four units of Cork City Fire Brigade, gardaí, the HSE National Ambulance Services, Coast Guard Helicopter Rescue 117, as well as a number of volunteer units including Mallow Search and Rescue and Cork Missing Persons, attended the scene.
Specialist naval divers were drafted in and the body of the woman was recovered from the submerged car after it was lifted from the River Lee by a crane at around 12.30am.
The woman has been named locally as Gillian Daly from the greater Douglas area of the city.
Her body was taken to CUH for a post-mortem examination.
Gardaí are hoping to speak with the children to try and work out the sequence of events that led to the car ending up in the river. Gardaí said they were treating it as a tragic accident.
They have appealed for any witnesses, especially those with dash-cam footage, to contact them.
