Police and rescue workers have failed to find any trace of the British man who fell from a boat in the North Sea canal shortly after midnight on Saturday during an on board party.

The boat’s captain saw the man fall from the deck of the boat near Westzaan to the west of Amsterdam and threw him a lifebelt but the man had already disappeared under the water, local paper Noord Hollands Dagblad said.

The emergency services searched for the man for several hours and the canal was closed to traffic while the hunt continued. A second search attempt, using divers and boats equipped with sonar, was halted on Sunday evening after failing to find any trace of him.

The man is thought to be one of a group of people from Newcastle who were staying on the boat. According to local broadcaster AT5, the water temperature is currently around seven degrees and there is no hope that the man is still alive.