Body of a teenage boy (17) recovered from the river Barrow

Sarah Slater

The body of a teenage boy has been recovered from the river Barrow after he got into difficulty swimming on Tuesday evening.

The body of the teenager was found by garda divers around 11pm following a search by garda divers.

The 17-year-old is understood to have been swimming with a friend when he got into difficulty around 6:30pm in the river in the Milford area of the county.

The teenager was with his friend at a local gym and it is believed that they then decided to go swimming. The student’s friend saw him get into difficulty in the water and tried to help him. However, as he attempted to help, he too was being sucked downwards due to strong river currents.

Eventually he managed to swim to safety and raise the alarm. Gardaí and emergency services from Carlow town were quickly on the scene

The teenager was a Transition Year student in a local secondary school in Carlow town.

Emergency services along with gardaí remained at the scene for several hours as a search got underway to locate the teenager. The scene remains  cordoned off by gardaí.

In a statement gardaí said that they along with emergency services were alerted shortly after 6:30pm (Tuesday) after a 17-year-old male “encountered difficulties” while swimming in the River Barrow at Cloghristick, Milford, Co Carlow.

A search operation involving local emergency services and the Garda Water Unit was carried out.