Crews search for man seen entering Tay

AN exhaustive search for a man who entered the River Tay at Perth on Saturday has proved fruitless.

A major multi-agency operation involving Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue, the coastguard, the RNLI from Broughty Ferry and a helicopter from Prestwick swung into action following reports of the man being in the river. He was earlier spotted on the Queen’s Bridge at about 4am.

A police spokesperson said the search for the man would likely resume today. The initial search on Saturday focused on the Tay near the Queen’s Bridge but water rescue teams from the fire service then concentrated on the lower Friarton area of the river around 8am, with the helicopter circling overhead.

Search teams then probed a stretch of water near Inchyra.

Scores of emergency vehicles involved in the operation were located in the South Inch car park, including staff from the Scottish Ambulance Service and a police incident response unit.

A spokesperson for Scottish Fire and Rescue said their staff stood down from the search around noon on Saturday along with an RNLI crew from Broughty Ferry. There were seven fire units at the scene when the incident first came to light.