A man collapsed and died suddenly yesterday as he began climbing Croagh Patrick.

The man, who was in his 40s and an American citizen became ill at the first statue on the pilgrim mountain as he started his ascent, shortly after midday.

He was accompanied by his wife and a number of others, all believed to be visitors from the United States. First aid was administered to the man but he failed to respond to efforts to resuscitate him.

A local priest administered the Last Rites before the remains were brought by ambulance to Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar for a postmortem.

The dead man, who is understood to be from the American midwest, wasn’t named yesterday evening, pending notification of relatives in the US.