The family of a man who fell from the M2 Bridge have made a heartfelt plea as efforts are stepped up to find him.

Billy Angell, 32, fell from the crossing in Rochester on Wednesday last week.

Ahead of a group search to find him, his brother and sister Holly and Charlie paid a loving tribute.

Holly said: "The man that jumped from this bridge in the early hours on August 1, was more than a jumper, he was my brother, the most caring, kind, soft-hearted soul you could come across.

"Unfortunately, he had the world on his shoulders and felt like this was his only way out.

"I want to take a moment to thank each and every person who has taken their time and are still giving up their time to search for my brother's body.

"And to the person that does eventually find him I want to say 'sorry, sorry that you have to witness that'.

"But I also want to say 'thank you', because the day my brother's body is found is the day we may just come out of this nightmare of being in limbo and be able to feel some comfort knowing he is no longer lost on his own in cold, murky, lonely water.

"For people who are reading this and haven't searched for him, I beg you, to give up five or even 10 minutes of your time to take a walk along the river to see what you can find or see.

"If you can't bring yourself to do that, then please just share our social media post so it can spread far and wide and create awareness of the tragedy and heartache that is left behind after a suicide.

"The more people we can get together the faster my darling big brother can be brought home and laid to rest.

"Time to make a change, time to stand as one in this dark, lonely world and stand together and fight against mental health.

"Thank you, from the bottom of my heart."

The search for Mr Angell began after police officers were called to the M2 bridge at Rochester after reports of a distressed man at 11.20pm last Wednesday.

The police helicopter circled Rochester and the river in the early hours of the following day and through the morning to continue the search.

A marine search unit was parked at Medway Rowing Club in the Esplanade, Rochester, last Friday.

A dinghy with a few police officers trawled the river and searched around boats moored in Castle View Moorings, Strood.

Mr Angell fell from the bridge not far from Borstal village

So far a body has not been located.

Mr Angell's family took to Facebook to encourage people to join the search for him.

At 6pm this evening a boat from Medway Yacht Club, which is off Main Road, Hoo, will go out on to the river to mark one week since the search began.

People will walk up and down a 4.5 mile route along the Esplanade, Rochester Bridge and down the river on the Cuxton and Strood side.

In a post on Facebook, one of Mr Angell's family members said a boat from the Historic Dockyard Chatham Trust was also due to go out to look.

Members of Medway and Swale Boating Agency were also searching.

On its website the group asked people to call police on 101 or coastguard on 01304 210008, or VHF16 if anything was spotted.

For confidential support on an emotional issue, call Samaritans on 116 123 at any time.

If you want to talk to someone confidentially, click here.

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