Coastguard stops search for man who jumped from ship

15/06/2010

The search for an illegal immigrant who jumped from a ship yesterday evening has been stood down, according to reports.

Two men aged 37 and 38 from the Dominican Republic jumped from a refrigerated cargo vessel at 6.10pm yesterday in Portsmouth commercial port area.

One man was rescued from the water and detained by the UK Border Agency, but the other was still missing despite an extensive search.

The two men were originally detained on Sunday after being found on the vessel. They had subsequently been returned to the vessel to be taken back to their native Dominican republic.

The coastguard helicopter from Lee-on-Solent in Hampshire was used to try and find the missing man, along with coastguard rescue teams and a MoD Police launch, until the operation was called off last night due to failing light.

Hampshire Police have since confirmed that a man was detained at around 5am this morning in the area of the M275 and was taken by officers to a local police station.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch has been informed of the incident.

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