Man in his 50s dies while diving off Donegal coast

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, The man got into difficult in the water near Downings in County Donegal.

A man in his 50s has died while diving off the coast of County Donegal.

An Garda S铆och谩na (the Irish police service) said they were alerted to a report of a man getting into difficulty in the water near Downings on Monday.

The man, who is believed to be from Belgium, was removed from the water by Malin Coastguard and brought by helicopter to Letterkenny University Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A file will be prepared for the Coroner's Court.

It comes a month after another diver died when he got into trouble during a weekend scuba diving rally in Co Donegal.

He was Patrick Doran, 49, from Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim.

He and another man in his 60s, thought to be his dive buddy, were recovered from the water near the Teelin Bay pier, west of Killybegs, where the rally was based.

The older man was treated by paramedics on shore before being airlifted to University Hospital Galway.

The National Hyperbaric Medicine Unit there has a recompression chamber, used to treat decompression sickness, also known as "the bends".

The incident happened on 22 June.