Body found in river ‘not suspicious’

Abody has been found in the River Tay in Perth following a huge emergency service response. Police were alerted at around 2.30pm yesterday to reports of a body in the river, near the bridge on Tay Street.

The coastguard, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the Scottish Ambulance Service were tasked to assist Police Scotland in the search.

Officers believe there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.

One witness said he saw at least eight police vehicles in the area at the height of the incident.

He said: “As I was driving along the road I could see lights in the distance.

“Tay Street was all lit up with emergency vehicles and flashing lights – it was a huge response.

“Initially it looked like the rescue team were trying to access the pontoon but it was all locked up.

“They had a dinghy off the trailer and then they abandoned that and went further along the road towards where the industrial estate is.

“Along with the coastguard, there were at least eight police vehicles as far as I could see, along with two fire appliances and one ambulance.

“There were a lot of uniformed police officers but also some nonuniformed detectives in among it too.

“The road remained open throughout all of this and vehicles were having to navigate through the emergency vehicles that were stopped abruptly on the road.

“It appeared to have sort of wrapped up at around 3.30pm.”

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “Around 2.25pm on Thursday a body was recovered from the River Tay, near Tay Street, Perth.

“There would appear to be no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death and a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.”

A spokesperson for the coastguard said: “We tasked our search and rescue teams from Dundee and South Queensferry to assist police in an incident on Tay Street.

“We were called at around 2.30pm.”

A fire service spokesperson said: “We had units in the area at the request of Police Scotland.

“We had two appliances attendance.”

RESCUE: Police vehicles by the Tay. Picture by Steve Macdougall.