POLICE searching for a missing fisherman recovered a body from Newlyn harbour on Tuesday afternoon.
A team of divers pulled the body from the water at around 3pm after several hours of scouring the port.
A major search operation was launched after a 17-year-old from Alderney in the Channel Islands was reported missing earlier this week.
On Tuesday a police helicopter hovered overhead while three teams from the Penzance coastguard rescue service searched the port.
The missing man was named locally as Liam, a teenager working aboard the Emma Louise.
Local sources say he was last seen after a night out on Sunday when he made his way back to the crabbing boat which was moored on the Mary Williams Pier just before midnight.
Several fishermen headed to the pier in Newlyn to monitor the search and wait for news.
One of his young colleagues, who didn't want to be named, said Liam was "just like any other 17-year-old; he was a really nice happy-go-lucky lad".
The teenager was a familiar face at the Dolphin Inn where landlord Steve Gilbert said: "He was a smashing guy, very quiet," he said. "He was a lovely, sensible guy and he looked upon me and Kerry as a mum and dad figure. Kerry idolised him.
Everyone here is gutted."
The Emma Louise is owned by Newlyn-based Rowse Fishing Ltd, and the firm's Emma Rowse paid tribute to a dedicated young man.
"He has worked for us for two-and-a-half years and he is a really hard-working guy," she said. "He will be sorely missed."
The Penzance South Ward councillors – Fiona Thomas-Lambourn, John Pender, Dennis Axford, Judith Parkin and Malcolm Lawrence – have issued a statement expressing their regret.
"We are extremely sorry to hear of this unfortunate accident. We offer our deepest condolences to the family concerned and we will be asking questions in the next few days."
The man's next of kin had been informed as The Cornishman went to press.
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