Hoveton: Part of River Closed by Police

2 September 2012, 14:00 | Updated: 2 September 2012, 17:28

Police have in the early hours of this morning (Sunday 2 September) closed a stretch of the River Bure in the Hoveton area.

The closure was made in consultation with the Broads Authority.

The mile long stretch of water that is closed covers Salhouse Broad to Wroxham Broad and is likely to be shut for most of today as police prepare to carry out a search of the area, inlcuding the water.

The closure follows a call that police received at just after 5pm yesterday evening (Saturday 1 Sept) from a member of the public concerned that a holiday hire boat had not been returned as arranged at the end of the week.

The boat was quickly located near to Salhouse Little Broad tied to a tree where a 13 year old girl was found to be on board alone but unharmed. She has spent the evening in protective police custody and will be spoken to by specially trained officers later today. The boat has been recovered and returned to a boat yard at Horning where the boat will be examined.Enquiries are on-going to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident and to establish the whereabouts of the 13 year old's parents.