The man whose body was recovered from the River Avon after a major search and rescue operation on Thursday has been named by police.
The man has been named as Christopher Taylor, 21, a chemistry student at the University of Bath, from Southport, Lancashire.
Christopher’s family have described him as “a wonderful son and brother. Chris was a talented sportsman who lit up every room he walked into. His death has left us completely devastated.”
Emergency services assembled specialist rescue teams on Thursday morning after reports of somebody in the River Avon.
The alarm was raised at 4.10am after a man was seen in the river and was shouting for help.
Police, fire and ambulance services rushed to the scene. Upon arrival, police officers were able to communicate with the man but were unable to get him out before he went under the water again.
An RAF Search and Rescue Sea King helicopter was requested and flew to the scene from its Chivenor base in North Devon, arriving in Bath at 6am.
The helicopter joined search teams along the river, focussing mainly on the area around the Riverside development.
The Sea King woke large parts of Bath as it flew to the scene, though after two hours of searching it could not locate the man again.
The helicopter is believed to have used its thermal imaging camera to try and locate the man after he went under the water. It was requested due to the ability of the crew to winch people directly from water.
The body of the man was located at around 12pm by police divers.
