Body is found in search of river

A body has been found by police searching for a woman who went missing in the River Waveney after the boat she was sailing in overturned.

The woman was one of five people in the boat which overturned at Wainford, on the Norfolk/Suffolk border near Ditchingham, on Saturday at 1845 BST.

An eight-year-old boy and three men managed to get to shore, but the woman was carried away by the flow of water.

Police have not confirmed whether the body is that of the missing woman.

Norfolk and Suffolk police, inshore lifeboats and a helicopter are searching for the woman who is aged in her early 30s.

Search resumed

A Norfolk Police spokeswoman confirmed Suffolk Police received a call from a member of the public on Saturday at 1845 BST, reporting a woman in a river and a boat overturned.

"Initially, the first officer on the scene entered the water in a bid to find the woman," the police spokeswoman said.

"A full scale search was then launched, including inshore lifeboats. However despite an extensive search of the river and river banks no trace of the woman was found."

The search had to be called off on Saturday at 2040 BST because of poor lighting but it has since resumed.

Peter Wheeler, senior watch manager with Yarmouth Coastguard, said: "I have never, I don't think, been able to find a body caught in these conditions. We have got to wait for them to resurface on their own.

"It is rather sad and macabre I am afraid, but we find it very difficult to search some of these areas as they are quite inaccessible.

"We had our coastguard team there from Southwold also helping to search along the river banks but some of the areas are really very hard to get at."