THE FAMILY of a Somerset man who went missing have thanked the public and emergency services for their help after he was found on Stert Island.

Mark Winterburn, 34, of Worle, went missing on Burnham-on-Sea seafront on Tuesday (October 29) after parking his van and walking towards Burnham boat club.

Emergency services including Burnham Coastguard, BARB Search and Rescue and Burnham RNLI assisted police in the search for Mark through the night and into Wednesday (October 30).

And after a long search Mark was found on Stert Island. 

Alana Savage, the partner of Mark's brother, Paul Winterburn, said: "The family would like to thank everyone who took part in helping us find Mark.

"So many people on social media wanted to help which was amazing but a special thank you to all police and rescue teams for finding him."

A spokesman for Burnham Coastguard said they initially started searching for Mark on Wednesday (October 30) with Weston Coastguard and both teams were deployed to walk along the Burnham-on-Sea beach shoreline.

The spokesperson said: "One team headed towards the Lower Lighthouse while the second headed towards Burnham Yacht Club looking for clues such as footprints.

"Once the team heading South reached the Yacht Club they then searched the boatyard and along the river banks.

"While we were concentrating on these areas, the Police units were searching inland areas while BARB Search & Rescue - Burnham-on-Sea hovercraft with two Coastguard Mud Rescue Technicians onboard carried out a search along the mudflats as the tide was low.

"Lifeboats were tasked by the Coastguards to carry out a search around Stert Island and along the River Banks.

"With no persons found and Police following up on CCTV footage, we were stood down until the tide was once again low enough to continue searching.and after washing down and sorting the kit we eventually returned to our homes at 5.30am for a small amount of precious sleep before work."

The Coastguard said they resumed the search for Mark at 12.30pm on Wednesday and teamed up with Weston Coastguard and BARB to 'maximise coverage.'

One mud rescue technician from Burnham Coastguard and a mud tech from Weston Coastguard boarded hovercrafts flown by BARB to search for Mark.

One headed towards Berrow and the other headed to Stert Island for a closer look around the high tide mark.

A police helicopter also conducted an air search above the island and spotted a person.

A spokesperson for the Coastguard added: "The Coastguard Mud Rescue Technician approached the person and immediately managed to confirm it was the person we had been searching for.

"After a brief assessment it was established he was suffering from the onset of hypothermia so he was made as warm as possible and the Coastguard Helicopter Rescue 187 was tasked to the mud teams location for quick extraction.

"After Rescue 187 had landed on Stert he was reassessed by the Coastguard Helicopter paramedic he was then flown from Stert Island and landed on Burnham Beach where he was handed over to a waiting Ambulance.

"With all this completed, we were stood down and after some immediate cleaning, we left station at 5pm for a quick bite to eat and will return at 7pm for a full clean down.

"A busy but ultimately rewarding incident that includes finding a person who had been in the extremely cold water before being out in the bitterly cold wind for nearly 24 hours.

"The close multi-agency working resulted in an amazing find and one that we can all put in the win column.

"We send him our best wishes for a quick recovery."

If you have any concerns for a person along the coast don't hesitate, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard