Australian police are investigating whether a body found this morning is that of 30-year-old Irishman Niall McDonough, missing since June 12th.
Shortly after 8.30am lifesavers from Brunswick Heads retrieved a body from the water. It has not been identified but police are liaising with his family, who arrived in Australia to join the search on June 17th. A post-mortem will be completed tomorrow.
Mr McDonough was last seen by his girlfriend as he left a backpacker’s hostel in the northern town of Byron Bay to go for a walk on a Friday evening. A member of the public located some of Mr McDonough's belongings on a park bench near the Cape Byron lighthouse early on Saturday morning.
There was an intensive land, air and sea search for two days following his disappearance, and scaled-back searches continued until Australian police called them off last Wednesday. They were resumed yesterday.
Mr McDonough is described as being 170-centimetres tall with a thin build, shaved red hair and blue eyes.
He was last seen bare-chested and wearing grey jeans with a billabong belt and runners, according to police. Police said they were concerned for Mr McDonough’s well-being as he suffers a medical condition that requires treatment.
The police could not say where Mr McDonough is from in Ireland.