A 30-year-old Ennis man took his life as one of his brothers and gardai looked on helplessly on the Ennis to Limerick rail line a mile outside Ennis, Co Clare, yesterday.
Gardai were alerted to the man's presence on the rail line after the driver of the 7.10 Ennis to Limerick train reported to the station master at Ennis that a man armed with a shotgun was lying across the line.
He died instantly as a result of a single shotgun wound to the head shortly before midday.
The train driver, Mr Michael Shine, said later: "He was lying across the track from the waist up as the train approached.
"I slowed the train down to 10 m.p.h. and sounded the horn. He then moved away from the track.
"I couldn't tell if he was distressed or not, as I couldn't see his face, but I alerted the station when I saw the shotgun."
Earlier, three of the man's brothers arrived at the scene, near Clare Abbey, after discovering a suicide note at his home.
According to Supt Pat Diggin, of Ennis Garda station: "One of his brothers talked to him over a considerable time in an effort that he give up the gun.
"However, all the time he had the gun trained on himself, which left us helpless."
At 11.40 a.m. the man took his life with a single shot. An ambulance and a priest were called and arrived 15 minutes later.
The arrival of the man's brothers at about 11 a.m. followed a 3 1/2-hour standoff between the man and the gardai who were present.
"There was no question of gardai being in any danger at any time," Supt Diggin said. "It was a standoff in the sense that the young man requested the gardai to move off. "They did that and left him on his own, and it took a considerable length of time to identify him."
Shortly after midday yesterday, the man's body was removed from the scene to Ennis General Hospital, where a post-mortem will take place this morning.
It is the policy of The Irish Times in reporting certain suicides to protect the identities of deceased persons and/or their families.