Police have recovered the body of a man who was swept off the Waterhouse Bridge Crossing near Beswick on Friday.

On Friday 23 January three men aged 30, 48 and 53 were attempting to walk across the bridge about 8.30 pm when two of the men, aged 48 and 53, lost their footing and were swept down river. The 30-year-old man was able to assist the 53-year-old man but the 48-year-old man was last seen struggling to remain above the water. At the time of the incident approximately 600 mm of water was flowing over the bridge.

Maranboy Police were advised of the incident about 8.40 pm and attended and began an initial search of the area but the missing man was not located. On Saturday Maranboy and Mataranka Police re-attended and recommenced searching utilising three boats.

At 11.00 am five members from the Territory Response Section departed from Darwin along with a helicopter from the VRD to assist local police. Four Emergency Services personnel and a boat were also despatched from Katherine to assist in the search. The helicopter with two observers on board has conducted parallel searches of the river but there were no sightings of the missing man.

The search commenced again this morning with Territory Response Section members and Maranboy Police utilising the helicopter, and the man's body was located around 4.00 pm approximately 1.5 kilometres downstream from the bridge.

A file will be prepared for the Coroner.


Media contact:
Sue Bradley
0417770686