A specialist underwater rescue boat is searching the waters around Burnham-On-Sea today (Wednesday) in a hunt for the body of four-year-old Dylan Cecil who went missing three days ago.
SARbot UK Underwater Rescue, an independent charity, is using hi-tech sonar equipment to try and find the body of the youngster, who slipped off Burnham’s jetty on Sunday night.
The organisation’s Chief Executive, Duncan Winsbury, pictured, said the group’s rescue boat began searched the water from 6.30pm until 10pm last night to configure the equipment ahead of a full search today.
He told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Our boat is equipped with two side scan sonars which are purposefully designed to find bodies under water. The equipment includes a robot arm that can recover objects on the sea bottom.”
“It’s designed to operate in zero visibility water so the muddy waters of the Bristol Channel should not pose a problem.”
“Wednesday will be a big day – we searched for three miles downstream to configure the sonar last night and now intend to widen the search. We found a lot of particles in the water which generate a lot of reflection, but we have configured our kit around this.”
“We recently used the equipment at a lake in Sutton Park and found a missing body in just seven minutes. It is really powerful.”
A recovery operation involving lifeboats, hovercraft, Coastguards and beach wardens resumed on Tuesday and further searches of the coast for Dylan are planned for today.
