This article is from page 18 of the 2014-06-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
NORTH Clare was stunned last week following the tragic death of two men in a freak motorcycle accident on the N67 Lisdoonvarna to Ennistymon Road on Thursday night.
The deceased men have been named locally as Ferdinand “Ferdi” Waidel, a 55-year-old German national who had been living in Clare for more than a decade, and Ricardo ‘Ricky’ Godoy, Chilean television presenter and motorcycle enthusiast.
The men were travelling in opposite directions when the accident took place. Mr Waidel is thought to have been returning home from a shop trip in Ennistymon when the accident took place.
My Goday was one of a party of six people driving in the opposite direction on three pillion motorcycles. It is thought that both men were leaning into a corner travelling in opposite directions when collision took place.
Two units of the fire brigade from Ennistymon along with ambulances from Ennistymon and Ennis rushed to the scene. A rapid response advanced paramedic unit from Ennis also responded to the incident.
Mr Waidel was pronounced dead at the scene and as paramedics battled to resuscitate Mr Godoy, the Emergency Aeromedical Service (EAS) air ambulance was called in to airlift him to hospital.
However, he was also pronounced dead while being transported by ambulance to the helicopter. His pillion passenger, wife Pilar, was also injured in the collision and was airlifted to Galway University Hospital where she was treated for non-lifethreatening injuries.
Mr Godoy is a television personality in his native Chile and travels around world filming for his motorcycle show Mototemáticos. He is understood to have visited the Isle of Man last weekend for the famous TT races. Gardaí have appealed for witnesses and have asked anyone who was in the area to contact the Gardaí in Ennistymon on 065 7072180.