The body of a 55-year-old men who fell overboard while sailing at the weekend has been recovered from the IJsselmeer.The German man was reported missing after he was hit by a boom and landed in the water near Enkhuizen on Saturday. His companions on board dived in after him but were unable to save him.

A police search team scanned the water using sonar equipment, assisted by a coastguard plane and police helicopter. The man’s body was found on Sunday evening and identified the following day.

In a separate incident, rescuers said a man who fell off a catamaran and spent the night clinging to a barge was lucky to be alive.

The man set out from Lelystad on Sunday, but it is unclear when he got into difficulty. The alarm was raised when his unmanned catamaran was spotted near Urk.

The Royal Dutch Rescue Society (KNRM) said he must have swum for several hours to reach the unmanned barge, where he sheltered overnight while waiting for help to arrive.

Teun Molenaar of the KNRM told Omroep Flevoland: “If you fall overboard one night, have to swim for hours and then spent a whole night on a barge, you can suffer hypothermia or shock.”