A BODY pulled from the sea this morning was a father-of-two boys who had been trying to save his dog, it has emerged.

Northumbria Police named the man today as Alex Hardy, 32, of Stockton-on-Tees.

His body was discovered by a member of the public in the water near Ocean Road, in the Grangetown area of Sunderland.

This evening his family said they are devastated by their loss.

Speaking to the BBC, family members said Mr Hardy was father to two boys, aged 11 and 12, adding: "He dived in for his dog because he has a big heart and loved his family.

"Alex was not a good swimmer, but he jumped in to get his dog - even though he knew he was putting his own life at risk for it."

A major search was launched late on Monday afternoon after coastguards were told he had gone into the sea at Hendon beach to rescue his pet dog.

A woman, understood to be Mr Hardy's partner, also went into the water and was rescued by a lifeboat. She was taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital suffering from hypothermia.

The dog was said to have made its own way back to the beach.

The Sunderland and Seaham Coastguard Rescue Teams, the police and RNLI lifeboat crews searched the waters for several hours and were helped by a Sea King rescue helicopter from RAF Boulmer in Northumberland that used infra-red equipment.

The search was called off as darkness fell and was due to resume this morning, but the body was spotted.

A spokeswoman for Humber Coastguard said: "Eyewitnesses who called 999 said they believed the two people went into the water after their dog who had got into trouble in the water.

"The lifeboat crew had just finished another incident to the north of Hendon, when the call came in so they couldn't have got there any quicker."

James Jamieson, operations manager at Sunderland RNLI, said his crew rescued the woman, also in her 30s, shortly after beginning their search for the pair, but were stood down by the coastguard when it became dark.

"Our thoughts are very much with the casualties and their friends and family," he said.