A MAN who jumped off the Dartford River Crossing has still not been found.

A police helicopter and the Metropolitan Police’s marine unit were deployed just after 11pm yesterday to search for the man’s body after CCTV showed him jumping off the bridge into the Thames minutes earlier.

Essex Police had initially been called by staff to report a van had been abandoned on the bridge – officers later found the van belonged to a man from south east Essex.

The Gravesend RNLI lifeboat was also called out to help look for the man last night and this morning but nothing has yet been found.

A police spokesman said: "A review of CCTV showed someone jumping off the bridge into the River Thames a few minutes earlier.

"A police helicopter arrived to carry out an aerial search while HMS coastguard searched the river.

"Met police deployed their marine unit, to the section near east London but nothing has been found.

"The van was recovered and its owner was a man who lived in south east Essex.

"The bridge was closed for four hours while the incident was investigated."