Missing South Shields Man: Body Found

16 January 2014, 08:56 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A body's been found in the search for a man seen walking into the sea at South Shields.

At 10.50pm, on Wednesday night, police received a report from a member of the public of a man walking into the sea near Marsden Grotto.

Officers attended the scene and carried out an extensive search of the area working alongside the Coastguard.

The Northumbria Police helicopter was also involved in the search.

At around 5.35am today, Thursday, January 16, officers searching the beach area discovered the body of a man.

This was found 600m away from the spot where the man was initially seen to enter the water.

Formal identification of the man is still to take place and enquiries will be carried out to trace a next of kin, however, officers believe this is the same man seen to enter the water.

A report will be compiled for the coroner in due course.

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UPDATED 6am Thursday 16th January 2014

There's concerns about a man who was seen walking into the sea at South Shields and hasn't been seen since

The coastguard was called by a fisherman who spotted the man in the water near Marsden Grotto just before 11pm yesterday.

Shortly after the call he disappeared from view. The Sunderland Coastguard rescue team and two RNLI lifeboats from Tynemouth were sent to search for the man, along with a police helicopter and a search and rescue helicopter from RAF Boulmer.

Rescuers were unable to find him and the search has been called off until later this morning.

The coastguard said conditions in the area were good, with light winds and clear visibility.

Fran Wilkins, watch manager at Humber Coastguard, said:
"We've had rescue units on scene and carrying out a thorough search for almost three hours, but unfortunately we have not located this man.

Units have now been stood down. We will assess the situation later on this morning to decide the next best course of action.''