The commanding officer of a royal marine, who died while out running in a Highland Glen, has paid tribute to the young soldier.
Luke Ireland, 20, a serving marine with Arbroath-based 45 Commando, vanished on Thursday after going running in Glen Clova in Angus.
A large-scale hunt was launched after Mr Ireland's father raised the alarm when his son did not return from his run.
His body was found around 1pm on Friday, and Police Scotland today officially identified it as that of Royal Marine Ireland.
There are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding his death, and he is believed to have died as the result of a tragic accident.
Lieutenant Colonel Dan Cheesman, MBE RM who is commanding officer of 45 Commando Royal Marines based at RM Condor in Arbroath paid tribute to Luke, who hails from Monifieth, Angus.
He said: "We are deeply shocked and saddened by the early death of Royal Marine Luke Ireland in the mountains of Glen Clova, Cairngorm, Scotland on Friday, November 14.
"Although every effort was made by Tayside Police, five Mountain Rescue teams, three rescue dogs, search helicopters and 250 Royal Marines and Army Commandos, the rescue attempt, in appalling weather, was unsuccessful.
"I am truly humbled by and grateful for the selfless actions of all those who took part, reacting with such great speed and incredible professionalism.
"Marine Ireland, from Monifieth, Angus, joined the Royal Marines in September 2012.
"On completion of training he was drafted to 45 Commando Group, based in Arbroath near his home town.
"He excelled in his role as a General Purpose Machine Gunner, revelled in taking part in 45 Commando's recent exercise in California and was looking forward to deploying to Belize to conduct jungle training in the New Year.
"He hoped to qualify as a Royal Marines Mountain Leader.
"Luke's insatiable sense of humour, enthusiasm, popularity and moral courage made him an exceptional Royal Marines Commando.
"He will be forever remembered.
"His loss is a significant blow to 45 Commando and the Royal Marines. Our thoughts and prayers are with Marine Ireland's family and friends at this difficult time."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article