Feeding ducks sparks police hunt

A couple who went to feed ducks sparked a six-hour underwater search after reports a baby had been thrown into the canal - only for a fire crew to find it was bread.

Police were called to the canal in Ashton under Lyne after nearby mill workers reported a bag had been thrown in the water, prompting fears it contained a baby.

The workers, from medical equipment company MediProp, called 999 after they spotted a man park his car by the edge of the water, get out and throw the carrier bag in.



The specialist search ended when fire crews recovered the bag from the canal bed and found it contained bread, which Sajid Muhammad and his wife had taken to feed the ducks, but accidentally dropped.

Mr Muhammad, 33, of Ashton under Lyne, said: "We often do it because it's better than throwing the bread away. We got a shock when the police turned up because it was such an awful thing to think about."

A police spokesman said: "It was a misunderstanding, but the member of the public who reported it did the right thing."