BREAKING: Huge emergency response as body 'believed to be of high risk missing person' discovered

A body 'believed to be a high risk missing person' has been discovered, police have said. The confirmation comes after huge emergency response was scrambled to a wooded areas beside a main road earlier this evening, Friday.

A stretch of a grass verge along Greengate, a major road in Middleton, was taped off for several as emergency services attended the scene. The large cordon was in place from around 4.30pm, the Manchester Evening News understands.

Videos from the scene show police cars and vans, an ambulance and a fire engine. Eyewitnesses also reported seeing 'dive teams and forensic officers', and mountain rescue 4x4s.

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The fire service has confirmed its firefighters were at the site for around two-and-a-half hours as operations were carried out.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said: "At 4.30pm today (1 April), firefighters were called to a police incident on Greengate in Middleton. One fire engine from Chadderton attended the scene.

"Firefighters were in attendance for approximately two and a half hours".

The area cordoned off appears to have been a grass verge opposite a Shell garage on Greengate in Rochdale. The road borders a cluster of trees beside Wince Brook.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police confirmed this evening (Friday) that this is 'believed to be the body of a high risk missing person', but have advised that formal identification has yet to take place.

One eyewitness, who asked not to be named, spoke of her shock at the discovery. "It's just very sad," she said, after seeing 'about six police officers around the cordon, fire and rescue,