A SAILOR was found dead after a late-night search.

The man went missing just before midnight on Wednesday off the shore at Studland near Swanage.

Dorset Police assisted Coastguard rescue teams from Poole and Swanage to search. A spokesman for the Portland Coastguard said: “We received a 999 call at 11.45pm from a member of a yacht crew on Studland. One of the crew had taken one half of the crew back to yacht on a tender. He was coming back to pick up the rest of them.

“They heard the engine but he never came.”

Rescuers searched for three-hours and a body was recovered.