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Hull Coastguard has released a picture of the large object that caused crews to scour the River Hull for several hours on Wednesday afternoon.

Humberside Police were called to reports of a body being seen in the water at Hull’s North Bridge at 12.55pm on April 17, with coastguard teams and the national police air service joining in the search around the river.

However, officers and onlookers later said a "large teddy" had been pulled from the water instead, and the searches were stopped.

But after Hull Coastguard posted a picture of the object on its Facebook page, it in fact appears to be of the Roald Dahl character the BFG, with human-like features and several feet long.

(Image: Hull Coastguard Rescue Team)

A spokesman for the Hull Coastguard Rescue Team said: “Coastguard Teams met with Humberside Police and the first informant who provided a very good picture of the casualty.

"As such, a large scale search was put in place, with Coastguard helicopter R912 and Humber Rescue also deployed alongside land search teams.

“With the River Hull and the River Humber's north Bank intensively searched utilising all assets, it was decided to cover the River Hull again with the tide now coming in.

“As a result, Humber Rescue located an object matching the casualty's description. On recovery it turned out to be a dummy.

“Many thanks to the member of the public who phoned this in initially; thankfully it turned out to be a false alarm with good intent.

“All teams were stood down and returned to their respective stations.”

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