RIVER searches for missing 18-year-old Tyler Pearson have been carried out today by members of an independent river safety charity.

The teenager, who is a signaller with 2 Signal Regiment based at Imphal Barracks, was last seen in the Ouse following a night out with friends in the early hours of Thursday, April 3.

Police divers from the Yorkshire And The Humber Marine Search Unit have already searched the area around King's and Queen's Staith, where he was last seen, and further downstream to Skeldergate Bridge, but have been unable to find him.

Today, the team - which is based in Nottingham, where Signaller Pearson is from - took to the river to use underwater scanning technology to look at the riverbed, but no underwater dives have taken place.

The Press understands several members of the team are former members of underwater rescue charity SARbot, but are acting completely independently of the charity. Other members are understood to be from Diveable, a charity which teaches disabled people to dive.