Archaeologists have continued to examine the 1847 Carricks shipwreck at Cap-Des-Rosiers beach in Quebec

Human bones washed up on a Canadian beach eight years ago are the remains of three Irish children who were fleeing the Great Hunger, scientists have confirmed. The victims were two seven-year-old boys and another boy aged 11.

The bones of another 18 individuals unearthed during a beach restoration in 2016 are the remains of shipwrecked Irish famine victims who had sailed from Co Sligo in March 1847.

The scientific discovery confirms a long-held belief locally that the bones that came ashore at Forillon national park in Quebec were the remains of passengers on board the Carricks ship when it sank during a violent storm off Cap-des-Rosiers in Gaspé.

The ship had left Ireland for Canada with 180 passengers, mostly former tenants of Lord Palmerston,