A 43-year-old man appeared in court last night charged with the murder of his two schoolboy sons.

The father of two Co Carlow brothers has appeared in court charged with his sons' murders in Co Mayo.

What initially looked like a single vehicle accident on a sunlit afternoon turned into something far more tragic within minutes of gardaí arriving at the scene outside Westport, Co Mayo.

Gardaí have issued the first alert on their emergency child rescue system after a father and his two young children disappeared.