A senior music industry executive is reportedly among two men feared dead after a boat carrying six passengers capsized in Surrey.

Keith Lowde, 66, was believed to have been taking his wife and two other couples a short distance from his home on Pharaoh's island in the River Thames to the bank at Shepperton in Surrey when the small vessel suddenly turned over.

Three women and one man, all described as being in their 50s and 60s, were taken to Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey with minor injuries but Mr Lowde and another man, said to be from the Cambridge area and in his 70s, disappeared.

Police divers were continuing to search the river after finding a body yesterday. No confirmation was given of the identity.

Mr Lowde is listed on the website of the Guildford-based Academy of Contemporary Music as a music business tutor with more than 20 years' experience in the music industry at a senior level.

His work includes directing a national music festival for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Surrey Police used a helicopter with a thermal imaging camera to hunt for the men with the search also joined by specialist divers from the Sussex force.

Police resumed searching the river by boat in the area around the island this morning.

One resident of Towpath, on the other side of the water, who did not want to be named, said Mr Lowde was a "sensitive" and "very civilised" man.

He said: "I saw him every day. He parked his car along the front.

"He was an extremely careful, sensible sort of man. He would not have encouraged any mucking about (in the boat).

"He was a very civilised man and seemed to be very sensitive and nice."

The resident, in his 60s, said that, on the night of the incident, the area, normally pitch-black with no street lights, was "full of blue flashing lights and odd lights bobbing about on the river".

He let an ambulance in to park on his drive but without a boat of his own there was nothing else he could do.

He added: "It's not dangerous water. In the summer a lot of people swim here. But two weeks ago there was ice on the river."

Another local resident said he understood from an islander that the boat capsized as it came around the western tip of the island.

He said: "As far as the river goes, in terms of the flow it's very quiet at the moment, but it's also very cold and if you were to fall in...

"Nobody knows what happened except for the survivors, but six people and luggage in a boat... The wash as it turned could have caused it to overspill.

"It could have taken on water and then panic set in."

Two police divers entered the water on the south side of the island to continue the search.

Speaking at the scene, Inspector Adam Smith said: "The search has resumed this morning with divers from Sussex Police covering further down the river from where they did yesterday.

"They're searching the island side of the bank close to where the victim was found yesterday afternoon and moving further downstream from that point.

"Early indications are that the boat left from the far side of the island and rounded the head of the island on its way to the public side of the island.

"At some point whilst rounding the head of the island the boat capsized. The full reasons for that are under investigation.

"The currents aren't particularly strong but there are a number of eddies and whirlpools so it's not necessarily as straightforward as it looks."

Asked about the victims' families he said they were "understandably very upset".

He said he understood that type of boat was designed to be very stable.

The search will go on until 7pm and continue tomorrow if necessary.