A MAN drowned last night attempting to save a woman. His body was pulled from the river Clyde, four hours after he leapt in after her.

She had jumped from the suspension footbridge at Clyde Street, Glasgow. Two men then followed her into the water in an attempt to rescue her.

However, only one of the men and the woman emerged from the water following the incident, which happened around 4pm.

Strathclyde Police said the missing man, who has not been named, was pulled from the river shortly after 8pm. He is believed to be in his early 40s.

Police divers and the Glasgow Humane Society lifeboat were involved in the search, and the Strathclyde Police helicopter was also called in.

A police spokeswoman said: ''Eyewitnesses reported a woman had jumped into the water from the suspension bridge. Two men jumped in after her.''

The woman was taken to the city's Royal Infirmary but she is not believed to have been injured.

The spokeswoman said the man who emerged from the water did not require medical treatment.

Crowds of office workers and passers-by gathered on the bridge to look for any signs of the missing man as the news spread. One onlooker, who declined to be named, said: ''I arrived just at the end but the woman floated right down the river. I think her clothes were full of air.''

He said the woman was rescued by two members of Glasgow Humane Society in a rowing boat. The second man had managed to clamber out of the river himself.

Inspector Lewis McIntyre, of Strathclyde Police, said a member of the public had called the emergency services and officers were on the scene just before 4pm.

He was unable to confirm speculation that the drowned man was the woman's partner.