River search for missing boy

Officers from across Oxfordshire are helping in the hunt

Bad weather has hampered a police search for a 12-year-old boy believed to have fallen into the River Thames in Oxfordshire.

It is feared that the boy fell in at Culham Lock at Sutton Courtenay, near Abingdon, while on a fishing trip.

A major operation involving a police helicopter and divers from an underwater search unit was launched after the boy's friends raised the alarm at 1445 GMT on Saturday.

Thames Valley Police called in officers from Abingdon, Didcot and Wantage to help find the boy, whose details have not been released but who is from the area.

Search continues

A police spokesman said that the search was called off at 1900 GMT on Saturday after it became dark.

Bad weather at the beginning of Sunday morning delayed the search and the force's helicopter was grounded until the clouds dispersed.

The spokesman added: "The weather has been quite bad and it has made it even dangerous to go along the river bank in less than daylight."

The boy's family was being comforted by friends and a police liaison officer while the search continued.