A BODY was pulled from the river near a busy town centre yesterday afternoon.

Emergency services were called to Shoreham footbridge after shoppers first spotted something in the River Adur at about 1.30pm.

Brighton and Hove Buses suspended their routes through Shoreham at the town’s railway station for much of the afternoon.

College student Adam Jenkins, 17, was on his lunch break when he noticed police and ambulance crews at the site.

He said: “I was going to get food for my lunch before college and saw all the officers.

“One of them told me it was some guy confirmed dead in the water.

“That must have been at about 2.30pm.”

Mr Jenkins then returned later on his way home, with emergency services still at the scene at 4.30pm.

Another onlooker said he was on a bus into Shoreham from Brighton which was stopped.

He said: “We were told we had to get off because of an incident.

“The first thing that came to my mind was terrorism.”

An eyewitness, who asked not to be named, added: “I was driving along through the High Street when I saw flashing lights everywhere.

“There were police cars, paramedics, lots of officers and a fire engine.

“My first thought was that someone had been pulled from the water because the footbridge was cordoned off.

“There were loads of people, schoolchildren and passers by, standing and watching to find out what was going on.

“The police removed the cordon just before 5pm.”

A shopkeeper told The Argus police had spoken to him and told him the body pulled from the water had been a man who was big and tall and was wearing a white coat.

A Sussex Police spokesman confirmed a body had been pulled from the water. At the time of going to press the force could not add any further details.

It is believed that the death is not being treated as suspicious.