Flood search: Second body found

12 April 2012

Police searching for a missing brother and sister feared dead after their car was swept away while crossing a swollen stream have found a second body.

Ryan Martel, 26, and his sister Frankie Chappel, 17, have been missing since the off-duty taxi they were in with two other men was pulled down a rocky river near St Ives, in Cornwall.

On Saturday, one of the passengers, a 20-year-old man, was found dead, while the remaining passenger, another 20-year-old man, escaped the Volvo saloon as it filled with water from severe flash flooding.

Police searching for the pair confirmed they had found a body, but would not confirm its identity.

Earlier, a Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said: "The family wish to extend their thanks to all emergency services who have been and still are involved in the search for Ryan and Frankie.

"Also, members of the public and householders nearby who have helped. They say that their thoughts are with other families affected by this tragedy."

The car got into difficulties in the early hours of Saturday while trying to make the crossing in the village of Zennor, in West Cornwall.

The body of the first deceased passenger to be found was recovered just after 7am on Saturday downstream from where the Volvo S70 was found "fully submerged and full of water", Devon and Cornwall police said.

Expert divers, the fire service, coastguard and rescue helicopters were combing the rugged stretch of coast, 14 miles from Land's End.

The passenger who managed to free himself from the Volvo S70 before it was sucked out into the water on the B3306 between St Ives and St Just, called ambulance control at 1.41am on Saturday saying that three others were lost.

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