Village remembers mine victims

The mine exploded after it was washed up on the County Donegal coastline

Residents of a village in the Irish Republic are preparing to remember the 60th anniversary of a tragedy that claimed 19 young lives when a World War 2 mine exploded.

Mystery still surrounds exactly what happened when the mine, which was washed up on a beach in County Donegal, exploded in 1943.

Most of the generation of young men who lived in Ballymanus near Kincasslagh were killed by the blast.

A monument was erected five years ago in memory of the 19 men and boys, aged between 14 and 33, who died.

It was not unusual for bombs to end up on the Donegal coastline.

After a day's work, the local men would go down to the beach to see what had been washed up from lost boats during the second World War.

However, as they examined the massive mine which had washed up on the beach, it exploded.

The effect on the local community was huge and the impact of the tragedy remains to the present day.