Body of drowned Irish teenager to be flown back from Spain today

Local police have named the 19-year-old as Joshua Osahon, from Portlaoise

Several members of Spanish Civil Protection Unit cover an area after a young Irish man’s body was found by Spanish Civil Guard’s diver unit in a lake of Lagunas de Ridera Natural Park. Photograph: EPA
Several members of Spanish Civil Protection Unit cover an area after a young Irish man’s body was found by Spanish Civil Guard’s diver unit in a lake of Lagunas de Ridera Natural Park. Photograph: EPA

The body of a 19-year-old teenager who drowned in Spain on Saturday is to be flown back to Ireland later today.

Named by local police as Joshua Osahon, from Portlaoise, Co Laois, the body of the young man was recovered on Sunday from a lake in Lagunas de Ruideranational park.

Postmortem results confirmed he died by drowning, according to a spokesman for la Guardia Civil de Albacete. The park is located between the provinces of Albacete and Ciudad Real, in central Spain.

On Saturday police and the fire service began a search of the national park, after Mr Osahon was reported missing from the group he was visiting the area with.

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The young boy was originally from Nigeria, but his family had moved to Ireland, and he had an Irish passport, local police said. The family of the boy flew to Spain shortly after his body was discovered on Sunday.

It is understood arrangements have been made for his body to be flown home on Tuesday.

The body was recovered from a small lake at approx 3.30pm after a two day search.

The boy was living in the nearby Ciudad Real province, on a language programme. He was staying at a small rural wood cabin complex for tourists, El Retiro de Don Quijote, along with several other people on the language immersion course.

On Sunday, Villanueva de los Infantes City Council issued a statement expressing their “deepest condolences” to the family and friends of the young man.

“We also thank all the agents and teams involved in the search tasks for their work since the disappearance of the young man, and we regret the tragic outcome of this event,” the local council’s statement said.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said they “cannot comment on individual consular cases”.

Jack Power

Jack Power

Jack Power is acting Europe Correspondent of The Irish Times