A student with a summer job on a construction site has died after a concrete pipe fell on him.
Killian O'Brien (17) was rushed to Sligo General Hospital after the accident on the site of a new hotel and housing estate near Inniscrone Golf Club, Co Sligo.
He was helping workmates to unload a lorry when one of the pipes rolled off and knocked him to the ground shortly before lunchtime on Thursday. He was injured from the chest down but had remained conscious.
Killian died in hospital less than 10 hours later with family members by his bed.
Friends and neighbours in his home village of Culleens, nearly 5km (three miles) from the scene of the accident, were devastated.
He was a popular member of the community who loved exhibiting horses and cattle at agricultural shows.
Family friend and neighbour Paul Conmy said: "The whole community is in shock. We're going around in a daze. We don't know what to say to each other. Killian was such a lovely lad, always very helpful. He was absolutely delighted when he got the job for summer." Mr Conmy, a Fine Gael member of Sligo County Council, added: "It was a freak accident. While it was of course obvious that Killian had been hurt, nobody thought he was going to die. He was conscious and talking to the ambulance staff on his way to the hospital."
As word of the accident spread through the area, 200 people prayed for Killian's recovery on Thursday evening at a special Mass celebrated by parish priest Fr Michael Harrison at the church of the Holy Family, Kilglass. School-friends cancelled their Leaving Cert graduation ball in Inniscrone last night.
The removal to the church will take place this evening. Killian will be buried tomorrow at the nearby St Patrick's Cemetery.
He was one of a family of five children of farmer Patrick John O'Brien and his wife Mary Eileen, a nurse. He was a fifth-year student at the convent of Jesus and Mary, Inniscrone.
Gardaí and the Health and Safety Authority have launched investigations into the accident.