River Trent search: Police recover two bodies from car

The bodies of a man and woman have been recovered from a car that has been in the River Trent for almost two weeks.

Searches had been ongoing since witnesses saw a car floating in the river near Hoveringham, Nottinghamshire, on 1 February.

Emergency services had located the car days later but struggled to reach it because of the fast flow of water caused by flooding.

Nottinghamshire Police said relatives of the deceased had been informed.

The force said specialist divers discovered the two bodies inside the vehicle after 10:30 GMT on Saturday.

Insp Tim Ringer called it a "difficult and complex" operation.

"Underwater recoveries of this nature are always very challenging, but our divers' work has been further complicated by the very fast flowing water at the site," he added.

"It was simply not safe to attempt this work before today."

The car had been located using sonar technology days after the report but "treacherous conditions" prevented its recovery, police had said.

Witnesses had reported seeing two occupants inside a car floating along the river after it left Hoveringham Road and entered the water.

Eyewitness Pauline Bulpitt said at the time: "It was quite shocking. My husband rushed to get his Wellington boots, hoping the car would come into the bank further up and we might be able to do something to help.

"There was another gentleman running down the field to see if he could do something to help but the car carried on down."

Although the bodies had not been recovered sooner, police said they believed they knew who the people were and their relatives had been supported by officers.

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