THE body of a 60-year-old man has been found in Winscar Reservoir near Dunford Bridge after a massive police operation.
The man, who has not yet been formally identified, was found in the reservoir by police underwater search teams.
It comes after police, the Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team and the Holme Valley Search and Rescue Team launched an operation covering the Dunford Bridge area – four miles south of Holmfirth.
But at 2.30pm yesterday afternoon a police water search team recovered the man’s body.
A spokeswoman for South Yorkshire Police said: “Sadly the body of a man was found in Winscar Reservoir in the Dunford Bridge area. We are still waiting for a formal identity of the man and no further details are available at this stage.”
Police were alerted by the man’s son who saw him leave his Penistone home at 5am on Wednesday.
Late on Wednesday an air support unit joined volunteers from the search teams in trying to locate the man after his car was found near a beauty spot.
The police spokeswoman added: “His son called us because he was concerned and there was a suggestion that he could be vulnerable.”
Mike France, from Woodhead Mountain Rescue, said: “Sadly at 2.30pm a body was recovered by the police underwater search team.
“We had some of our members there at the time supporting the police.”
The search teams were called in to help search the area at 5pm on Wednesday.
Mr France, the team leader (pictured), said: “We had 38 people and three specialist dogs out searching, along with the police.
“We searched around 1.5km from the spot where his car was found last night, walking the paths, tracks and wooded areas, as well as the water’s edge.
“The police also had a boat out on the water searching.
“We were out for five and a half hours and did what we could.”
