A SEARCH and rescue crew whose boat became wrecked while searching for a missing 20-year-old ma have been able to fund a replacement thanks to donations.

West Midlands Search and Rescue (WMSAR), based in Spetchley, Worcester, joined West Mercia Police to search for Daniel Hodgin, from Telford, who failed to return home after a night out in Shrewsbury town centre on Sunday, November 23.

While searching the river Severn and its banks, the rescue boat was "catastrophically damaged" by underwater debris and the crew had to be rescued by another WMSAR nearby.

The voluntary organisation, which is a charity and relies on public donations, put out an appeal on social networking sites such as Facebook and donations soon came pouring in.

Within a couple of days they had managed to raise the £1,700 needed with the majority coming from a Shrewsbury-based furniture company and people living in the town.

Richard Andrews, WMSAR fundraising officer from Hallow, was at the search in Shrewsbury and said they were grateful for the donations to replace the damaged boat.

"We are coming up to one of our most busiest periods with the floods so we are always looking for funding.

"We are training at the moment for the floods and last year we were called down to Somerset, Exeter as well as at Diglis carrying out welfare checks."

The charity covers Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire and will be holding training sessions for new volunteers in the spring.

Anyone wishing to donate to WMSAR should log on to wmsar.org.uk/donate.

* Anyone with information on Daniel's disappearance should call 101 quoting incident number 258 of Sunday 23 November.