Police have been searching the Thames in Oxford after a man wearing a dinner jacket was seen floundering in the river.

The search was hindered by the fast-flowing floodwaters, which made an underwater search risky.

Officers fear that if the man drowned, his body might not be retrieved for weeks.

The hunt began in the early hours of Saturday morning after a woman told police that she had seen a man wearing a dinner jacket struggling in the water near Folly Bridge.

A police helicopter with a spotlight was sent to the scene, while police and firemen combed the banks of the river.