A young driver has revealed how the first thing he did was the lotto after surviving a horrific car crash in which his car was completely destroyed.
Fishermen Michael Byrne was driving to work today when he hit a patch of black ice just after 5am.
The 38-year old’s VW Golf car ended up upside down in a river at a notorious accident blackspot but amazingly he was rescued from the car.
He revealed “There was a stump of a tree or something below the car and I think that saved me. I honestly don’t know how I survived.
“It’s a miracle. I don’t care about the car because I honestly thought I was dead. I sat there upside down in the car thinking ‘How am I still here?’
He managed to call the fire service who were with him in minutes.
Mickey Byrne
“I happened to know the fireman and when he got to me he told me I was the luckiest man alive,” he added.
He was rushed to Letterkenny University Hospital but had no injuries at all apart from some dirt on his hands.
Mickey added “I realised how lucky I was then. My father came and collected me from the hospital and the first thing I did was to pull in and do the lotto.
“Don’t be surprised if you hear Donegal has a new lotto millionaire on Saturday night.”
Michael, who lives in Greencastle, revealed how no less than three different accidents took place in a 20 metre stretch of the same road within just a couple of hours this morning.
He said the road, at Clar, Redcastle needs to be addressed immediately before another serious accident happens.
He added “I got up this morning and it was three or four degrees. There was no frost on my car.
“I was travelling at a normal speed and yet the minute I touched the brakes, the car left me and I slid between a telegraph pole and the bridge and ended up in the river.
“There were three accidents in that short space of road today. How many have there been over the years.
“The council needs to sort this road or more people will die,” he warned.
