DUBLIN (AFP) - A man who died in Ireland shortly after returning from Sierra Leone has tested negative for the Ebola virus, health officials said on Friday.

The Health Service Executive had said on Thursday the man's death was "a suspected case" of the tropical virus and quarantined his body until tests could be carried out.

But it said in a statement on Friday that laboratory test samples had proved negative for Ebola.

The man, Mr Dessie Quinn, who was in his mid-40s, had returned from working as an engineer in Sierra Leone, one of the countries worst affected by the west African Ebola outbreak, his company KN Network Services (KNNS) said.

KNNS said it had pulled all of its staff from Sierra Leone as a precaution.

The local media reported that Mr Quinn was receiving treatment for malaria since his return to Ireland.

The HSE rejected media claims that Mr Quinn's family did not know he was at the centre of an investigation into a suspected Ebola case.

"The HSE was in contact with some family members from the outset of the tragic situation," it said.