A SEARCH for a missing man ended in tragedy after a body was discovered off Chesil Beach.

Dorset Police received a report of a body in the water at 2.10pm this afternoon.

A spokesman for the force said: "The body was recovered and is believed to be that of Adeel Sajid from Weymouth who had last been seen at around midday on Thursday, December 29.

"His next of kin have been informed of this development. The coroner has been notified but formal identification has not yet taken place."

Yesterday a major search was launched for the missing Weymouth man.

Dorset Police launched an operation around Portland on Friday afternoon, assisted by the RNLI and the Coastguard helicopter, to find 34-year-old Adeel Sajid.

Mr Sajid, of Pakistani origin, was last seen at an address in Roundhayes Close at around 12.10pm on Thursday.

He is described as five feet seven inches tall with short greying hair and a black greying beard. He was wearing a blue jacket, blue jeans and a blue hat.

Dorset Police launched a public appeal shortly after noon.

At 1pm both the Weymouth RNLI lifeboats were launched, as well as the Coastguard search and rescue helicopter, to conduct a search of the sea.

The helicopter searched the cliffs and foreshore of Portland and Chesil Beach while the Wyke team searched a large area of the Fleet, Rodwell Trail, The Ham.

Ken Francis, volunteer press officer at Weymouth Lifeboat, said: “The inshore lifeboat searched from Balaclava Bay to Portland Bill, back to Portland harbour and up into The Fleet while the all-weather lifeboat completed a shoreline search from Portland Bill down the West side of Portland and along Chesil Beach as far as Abbotsbury.”

The search was called off at approximately 3.30pm.

Inspector Steve Horton said: “We are becoming increasingly concerned for Adeel as we know he has been very upset recently.

"We believe that Adeel left his address in Weymouth to go for a walk in the direction of Portland and has not returned.”