Two 15-year-old boys have died after getting into difficulty while swimming at a quarry lake in Ennis, Co Clare.
The teenagers were swimming with a group of friends when the incident happened in Knockanean at around 3:30pm on Thursday afternoon.
Emergency services, including the Irish Coast Guard and gardaí, attended the scene.
The two teenagers were recovered from the water, and CPR was performed.
The boys - who are believed to be from Ennis - were airlifted by the Coast Guard Rescue 115 helicopter to University Hospital Limerick in a critical condition.
They were later pronounced dead.
Local councillor Mary Howard says the community is in shock by what has happened.
"It's a sad, sad day here - you see these things happening on the news every summer when the weather gets nice, that you hear (about) so many people drowning.
"But here we are we've had this on own doorstep and we've lost two young 15-year-old boys.
"We're all trying to get our heads around it.
"Everybody's shocked and traumatised, and so upset for the two families".
