The garda underwater unit has recovered the body of a man who had been missing for two days in Dublin.

The body of Alan Houston (21), originally from Letterkenny in Co Donegal, was recovered at about 11am yesterday in the Grand Canal.

Gardaí do not believe there are any suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. His family was yesterday being comforted by family and friends.

Houston, a Trinity College pharmacy student, was last seen by his friends at the junction of Pearse Street and Lombard Street in Dublin at around 12.30am in the early hours of Thursday morning after a night out.

He got out of a taxi at the Lombard Pub, opposite Pearse Street Dart station, to walk to his nearby apartment at Charlotte Quay Dock.

Gardaí found CCTV footage which shows Houston going into the Maxol petrol station at Ringsend Road at around 1am. This was the last known sighting of the young man.

Family and friends became concerned when they were unable to contact the third-year student, described as a "very reliable" person, the following day. Their concerns increas­ed when he failed to attend his college lectures and a social event he was known to have been looking forward to.

A large group of Houston's friends and classmates carried out a search in the city on Friday and this continued yesterday. Hundreds of posters of the missing man were also distributed across Dublin.

This time eight years ago, Trevor Deely, from Naas in Co Kildare, went missing in the Baggot Street area of Dublin city.

His family and friends launched a massive missing person campaign but no information about his disappearance has ever been uncovered.