An American couple riding in a horse-drawn carriage in Ireland was killed when their pony lost its footing and flung them 20 feet down a rocky ravine.
Rosalyn Joy Few and her partner Normand Larose, both in their 60s, were riding down the narrow Gap of Dunloe mountain pass Monday, when their steed stumbled, overturning their carriage, the Irish Examiner reported.
The pair, who are from Phoenix, plunged to the rocky terrain below and died instantly.
“It’s a freak accident,” said Killarney Garda Superintendent Flor Murphy. “It’s very, very sad. It is very, very tragic. We just don’t know why the horse and cart went off the road at that point.”
The driver of the carriage was shaken but survived, while the badly injured horse had to be put down, the Examiner reported.
It took about an hour to retrieve the bodies, said Gerry Christie, of the Kerry Mountain Rescue.
“We’re used to watching happy tourists. This casts a huge cloud over things,” he told the Irish Times.
Few’s daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren were trailing them in separate carriages but did not witness the accident.
“They are absolutely distraught, as you can imagine,” an unnamed source told the Herald.
The Gap of Dunloe is one of Ireland’s most popular attractions, according to the president of Killarney’s chamber of commerce and tourism. Tourists are usually ferried down the mountain pass in traditional two-wheeled vehicles that have been used since Victorian times.
“The Gap of Dunloe is one of the most naturally beautiful places in the entire country but there is a very dark cloud overhead this evening as everybody tries to come to terms with what has happened,” Killarney Mayor Niall Kelleher said.
On Tuesday, the association of 30 pony-and-trap operators did not operate as a mark of respect for the couple and the ponymen held a prayer service near where they died.