Walker, 75, rescued from marshes after being spotted by police drone nearly 24 hours after he went missing

A police drone was the unlikely hero in the rescue of a 75-year-old man found stuck in marshes after going missing on a family walk.

Peter Pugh was separated from the group he was with walking on the north Norfolk coast.

He was found nearly 24 hours later – on Father’s Day – stuck in dense reedbeds at Titchwell after being spotted by a police drone.

After being spotted by the gadget, he was winched out and taken by air ambulance to hospital where he is being treated for hypothermia.

Mr Pugh had been walked along the beach from Brancaster, where he lives, towards Titchwell when he went missing at around 5.10pm on Saturday.

A search operation was launched, involving around 50 people who hunted for the 75-year-old until 2am the following morning, starting again later than morning.

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He was finally found at 2.35pm that day – nearly 24 hours after he had disappeared – after being spotted in dense reedbeds by a Norfolk Police drone piloted by Sergeant Danny Leach.

He guided other rescuers to Mr Pugh, who was pulled from a deep muddy creek and given first aid until the coastguard rescue helicopter arrived to winch him out.

Sergeant Alex Bucher, who helped co-ordinate the search, said: “There is no doubt that without the police drone we would not have been able to locate him in the time we did.”

The search involved police, the fire service, the coastguard, Hunstanton and Wells Inshore Lifeboat and Norfolk Lowland and Search Service.