A missing motorcyclist in Britain has been found seriously injured in a roadside ditch almost three days after he crashed.
Humberside Police said the man spent three nights in the open near Thorne, South Yorkshire, as a major search operation was conducted to find him.
The 40-year-old, from Goole, East Yorkshire, is now being treated at Doncaster Royal Infirmary for injuries including broken ribs and hypothermia.
The man, who has not been named, was reported missing by his partner after he failed to turn up for work a day after she last spoke to him, a force spokeswoman said.
Humberside Police launched a missing person investigation on September 12th at 3.37pm. Officers checked the man’s home, work, hospitals and police stations and found his new motorbike was also missing.
He had been planning go out riding on his bike at 4.30pm on Tuesday, September 11th.
Inspector Rob Cocker said his team found his phone had not been used in the 24 hours up to his partner reporting him missing. They also found the phone had not moved from the area between Thorne and Goole which is large and sparsely populated.
He said traffic officers checked roads and ditches with the help of the force helicopter.
They also launched a dedicated systematic police search system called POLSA and two full days of searching began of rivers, reservoirs, fields, ditches, houses, gardens, and any other likely location the man could have been in the Thorne, Rawcliffe and Snaith area.
Insp Cocker said a small amount of debris from a motorbike was found at the side of a road on Thursday, September 14th, at 11.20am. Firefighters and paramedics were called to join the search and the man was found at 12.14pm, 6ft down a ditch, lying in water between East Cowick and Thorne.
He was conscious and breathing, they said.
Officers said they believe the motorcyclist collided with a metal signpost on the off-side of the carriageway and then slid approximately 200m along the carriageway before coming to rest in a ditch.
Inspector Cocker said: “Telephone analysis showed that the man’s texts and call pattern was completely out of character. The analysis also gave the police a large search area in a predominantly rural part of the county.
“Even with a helicopter it is impossible to check every overgrown ditch and crevice and the only way to be 100 per cent sure is to search on foot using officers on the ground.
“All officers feared the worst and it was very pleasing to find the man alive and hope him well with his recovery. It is a credit to his determination that he is still alive,” the inspector said.
PA