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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Ryan Merrifield & Benedict Tetzlaff-Deas

Boy, 17, found dead in river 18 hours after he 'failed to resurface' in front of friends

A body has been found in the search for a teenage boy who disappeared while playing with friends in the River Thames.

It comes after a major search and rescue operation was launched for a missing boy last night following reports that several teenagers had got into trouble in the water in Lechlade-on-Thames, Gloucestershire.

Gloucestershire Constabulary confirmed the discovery of a body on Monday afternoon.

Though formal identification has not yet taken place, the boy's next of kin have been informed and are being supported by trained officers. The death is not being treated as suspicious.

Police, fire and ambulance crews were joined by teams from various local search groups at the scene from around 10pm on Sunday evening.

Four teens are understood to have been pulled from the water and taken to safety at The Riverside pub.

A teenager went missing after getting into trouble in the River Thames in Lechlade (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Vessels continued to search the river today around a former lock-keeper's post at The Roundhouse, where witnesses had described seeing a group camping and jumping into the water from a footbridge.

All those involved are understood to be aged around 17.

Following the discovery of a body this afternoon, a police spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with the boy's family and friends at this distressing time.

"The death is not being treated as suspicious at this time."

A Gloucestershire Police spokesperson earlier shared that some of the group had entered the water to try and find the missing boy.

Rescue boats were being launched from Lechlade Marina, while the landlord of The Riverside pub re-opened late last night to accommodate the rescued teenagers.

They were initially seen wrapped in metallic blankets in the back of an ambulance.

A boater moored up near the pub told the Mirror earlier today: "They were camping half a mile upstream near the Round House - there's a wooden bridge across the river.

It is understood the group were playing in the water on Sunday night (Daniel Jae Webb / SWNS)

"Some people say they were jumping in from there, others say two of them slipped in and it wasn’t jumpers.

"That’s the way the jungle telegraph works. It could have been they slipped in off the riverbank."

Describing the scene this morning, he said: "It is very active today. They’ve got lots of local search and rescue operators from around the county because we’re on the border of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.

"It’s a fair bit of water...We’ve got several rescue vessels, incident control, people wandering around."

A spokesman from Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service previously said: “We were called at 10.03pm by the coast guard to reports that some teenagers believed to be aged about 17, had been playing in the river at Lechlade and one hadn’t resurfaced.

"We assisted the search by sending three crews from Fairford, Gloucester South and Tewkesbury, along with boat crews.

"We liaised with coast guard and the police, who were co-ordinating the search, and came away from the scene at about 4am.”

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