X FACTOR star Mary Byrne has told how she cheated death after a motorway smash wrecked the mini bus she was travelling in.
The Ballyfermot woman had been touring in the UK with the cast of Menopause the Musical 2, when the coach crashed into a truck that had braked after hitting a deer.
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Dubliner Mary, 63, was due to appear in Woking, on Saturday.
The traumatised singer said her life flashed before her eyes.
Mary told The Irish Sun: “The poor guy driving the lorry in front, a deer ran out in front of him and he swerved but ended up killing the deer and jamming on his brakes.
“We went right into the back of him.
“The whole front of our bus was wrecked, the engine was destroyed.
“It was like an explosion. That’s what it sounded like. All I could see was people being thrown from one end of the bus to the other.
“Some of them had seat belts on, but some of them hadn’t.
“I was so lucky I had mine on — this is the most frightening thing that has ever happened to me.”
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She added: “You know the way you say your life flashes before you?
“I didn’t see a flash but I saw my mother and father, and my daughter, all the people I have loved came into my head.
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“They had two fire brigades and two ambulances at the scene where the crash happened in the road. One of the ambulances took me to hospital.
“I was stopped in the road, crying for the deer which was squashed on the road, that’s how emotional I was.”
ROAD HORROR
The crash happened on the M3 near Basingstoke at around 1pm on Friday.
Former X Factor star Mary — alongside cast members Jessica Martin, Rebecca Wheatley, Susie Fenwick, director Kelly Sims and driver Jim Perrie — were taken to hospital with “sprains and bruises”.
She added: “It wasn’t until I got to the hospital I got a pain in my arm, that’s when I was brought into x-ray. My arm is very bad. I have tissue damage to my back and neck.
“I’m still very emotional now, I keep bursting into tears. I don’t know why. I’m so, so grateful I’m alive.
“A policeman who turned up told me I was so lucky, he attended another crash where everyone died. We were blessed.
“I’m a bit scared at the moment. I hope the tour can continue. We need to get back on the road, so I can get over this. It won’t make me stop.”
Producer Robert C Kelly, who was not travelling on the bus, told The Irish Sun told The Irish Sun said the show had been due to open in Woking on Saturday as part of its UK tour, but was postponed.
He added: “We’re awaiting news as to how everybody is before we think about the show going back on.”
But he was adamant the crash wouldn’t prevent Mary taking part in a nationwide tour of Menopause the Musical 2 in Ireland next May.
Mary wowed Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Cheryl and stand-in judge Katy Perry with her rendition of I Who Have Nothing by Tom Jones when she auditioned for the show back in 2010.
Mary made it to The X Factor‘s semi-final – which also starred One Direction and eventual winner, Matt Cardle.
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