A TEENAGER is recovering today after sparking a six-hour search when he was found soaked and disorientated by the River Orwell.Emergency services trawled the river from the water and the air for the boy's friend, who was eventually found safe and well at home.

A TEENAGER is recovering today after sparking a six-hour search when he was found soaked and disorientated by the River Orwell.

Emergency services trawled the river from the water and the air for the boy's friend, who was eventually found safe and well at home.

Officers were called to the scene near to the Orwell Bridge in Gainsborough Lane, Ipswich, by paramedics at 7.45pm yesterday after a 13-year-old boy from Ipswich was found on the riverbank.

Paramedics received a call from a member of the public who found the boy and were told he had awoken in the water and did not know how he got there.

A spokeswoman for the East of England Ambulance Service Trust said: “The person told us he had woken up in the water and had wet trousers. He did not know what had happened but dragged himself to the edge.”

The teenager was suffering minor injures and was taken to Ipswich Hospital but on the way told paramedics he had been with friends before he was found.

Anne-Marie Breach, spokeswoman for the Suffolk police, said: “The ambulance service contacted us when the boy, who was believed to be around 13-years-old, said he thought there may be others in the water.”

Police officers joined the Harwich RNLI Inshore Lifeboat and Holbrook and Felixstowe coastguards to help with a search of the water for other teenagers.

Police also sent a helicopter out to help in the rescue.

Miss Breach said: “Meanwhile officers were trying to find out more from the boy as to what had happened.

“He gave the name of a friend he had been with and officers went to his nearby home.

“It was then discovered the boy was safe and well at home and he confirmed it had just been the two of them out earlier in the evening.”

The search was finally called off at 2am.