[Ammi]

The bodies of two boys who went missing in Ireland are understood to have been found in the boot of their father's car after a crash.

Eoghan Chada, 10, and his five-year-old brother Ruairi disappeared from the family home in Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, on Sunday evening.

They were found dead nearly 200 miles away in County Mayo after a car crash in which their father Sanjeev was injured, although they are believed to have died beforehand.

Mr Chada, who is being treated in hospital, was expected to be questioned by detectives.

The 43-year-old's two sons were the subject of a nationwide search amid fears he had abducted them after telling his wife Kathleen he was taking them bowling.

Police issued the first ever amber alert for missing children in Ireland, triggering nationwide broadcasts, social media alerts and traffic and travel messages, after he failed to return home

At the time of the alert, officers said they had no knowledge of any breakdown in relations in the family and insisted that the couple were not estranged.

Eoghan and Ruairi were described as extremely popular and "two little sports fanatics" who were members of their local junior hurling club.

Father Declan Foley, parish priest near their home in the tight-knit village, was with the Chada family when news of the car accident was broken to the boys' mother and other relatives.

"It was like an earthquake hit the place. It was devastating for all of us," he said.

"You can't put into words the shock and numbness and pain and grief of that news coming through."

Mr Chada's car hit a wall in Clooneen, Rosbeg, on the coast road to Louisburgh, in Co Mayo, around 185 miles from the family home.

The vehicle has been taken away from the scene for further forensic tests, while post-mortem examinations were being carried out on the boys' bodies at Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar