Safety review call as second vehicleplunges into Donemana lake

The PSNI confirmed it had assisted in a road closure in order to aid the recovery of a van from a lake, known in the area as the ‘duck pond,’ on the Longlands Road on Friday.

The road was closed between 5.15pm and 8.50pm for the recovery operation.

It’s understood the vehicle crashed into the lake on Thursday.

DUP MLA Gary Middleton said he was shocked by the second such incident at the exact same spot in the space of just six weeks.

“It think it’s very important that this stretch of road is looked at,” said the local MLA.

“Thankfully on this occasion no-one appears to have been hurt or injured but now that it’s happened twice in the space of such a short period of time I think TransportNI as the road authority might want to review that section of road.”

Mr Middleton referred to how the Longlands Road has unfortunately claimed lives in the past, most recently in July, when a man was tragically killed after the car he was travelling in struck a bridge.

“Ultimately, we don’t want any more fatalities on this stretch of road,” said Mr Middleton.

“People have already died and we need to take steps to ensure there are no further tragedies,” said the local DUP MLA.