Missing swimmer named as search is scaled down for night (From Thurrock Gazette)
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Missing swimmer named as search is scaled down for night
10:25pm Wednesday 2nd July 2008 in News
SEARCHING: The scene on the Thames today.
AS dusk fell this evening the search for a missing Stifford Clays teenager feared drowned in the river Thames at Grays was scaled down for the night.
The missing man has been named as 18-year-old Adunayo Shittu. His family are said to be distraught and have paid a tribute to a "much-loved son and brother."
Adunayo had been swimming off Grays Beach on Tuesday evening when he went under the water and failed to reappear. It is believed he was pulled under by a strong current.
He was with two 15-year-old girls from Grays, a 17-year-old boy from Grays, and a 21-year-old man from Dagenham at the time.
Since the early hours of this morning a joint search and rescue operation was launched by police and the Coastguard. Officers from the Marine Unit scoured the water and coastline while colleagues from the Air Support Unit conducted an aerial search in a helicopter.
The RNLI were also involved, as were members of the Essex Search and Rescue team who scoured the riverbank.
They were forced to call the search off at 9.30pm when it got too dark.
Do you know Adunayo? Pay your tributes to him and messages to his family here.
