Updated: 3.15pm

A man and boy were killed in a head-on collision this morning shortly after a woman known to the deceased was injured in a nearby house.

The driver and young passenger died after the car they were travelling in collided with a truck on the main Limerick to Tipperary road.

The incident happened on the N24, a mile from Brooks Bridge, at around 8.30am this morning. The person driving the truck escaped physical injury.

Gardaí are investigating the circumstances around the crash and an earlier assault at a house in nearby Oola village.

A woman received a number of injuries in the attack, including a broken arm and “non-life threatening” cuts, and was taken by ambulance to Limerick University Hospital. 

The man and child subsequently killed on the N24 were both in the house at the time, gardaí confirmed.

A garda spokesperson was unable to confirm reports that the deceased were father and son, and that the injured woman is the dead boy's mother.

The road is currently closed to facilitate an examination by garda forensic collision investigators and local diversions are in place.

A postmortem is expected to take place at Limerick University Hospital tomorrow.

Witnesses to the collision have been asked to contact gardaí in Bruff on 061 382940, the garda confidential telephone line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station.