Young man’s body recovered from blowhole in Co Mayo

Emergency services in north Mayo recovered the body of a 20-year-old man from a blowhole on the Belmullet peninsula on Thursday evening.

The alert was raised shortly after midday when it was reported that a man had been spotted in the 21-metre (65ft) deep blowhole in from the shoreline south-east of Dún na mBó near Eagle island.

Malin Coast Guard tasked the RNLI Ballyglass lifeboat and Irish Coast Guard rescue helicopter from Shannon, along with Coast Guard units from Ballyglass and Achill island.

Achill Coast Guard’s cliff team spent a number of hours with gardaí from Belmullet in attempting to recover the man’s body, and it was brought to the surface shortly after 7pm.

The man's body has been taken to Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar for a post mortem.

A Garda spokeswoman said the man’s name had not been released until relatives had been informed, and described it as a “tragic incident”.