Beachgoers have been warned to be careful after a young boy had to be rescued when he fell into a sinkhole on a Co Donegal beach.
The boy was rescued after he fell up to his neck in water at the hole at Sweet Nellie's Beach near Greencastle last weekend.
The hole cannot be seen when the tide is in making it a huge danger for walkers. The RNLI Lough Swilly crew issued a public alert warning people to be aware of the hole.
They said: "By all accounts this is a new hole and not a lot of people know it exists.”
A passer-by said the boy was very lucky. “There were plenty of people about because it was a lovely weekend but if this was an older person walking on their own on a colder day, this could have been fatal.
"There might not have been anybody around and they could easily drown.
“Beaches need to be inspected regularly and filled in because these are death traps.”
The issue of ‘sinkholes’ has been ongoing at the beach for a number of years. Local Environmentalist Enda Craig has warned of the dangers of the holes over the years. Three years ago Donegal County Council filled in a number of such holes using a JCB digger.
