The North's Police Ombudsman is to investigate why a man's body lay undiscovered in his submerged car a week after police first received reports of a vehicle entering a river.
The body of 48-year-old Paul Gordon from Draperstown, Co Derry, was recovered from his red Alpha Romeo in the Moyola river at the weekend.
Police had received a report of tyre tracks leading into the water off the Derrynoid Road on the previous Saturday, December 8th.
However, officers responding to that call found "no evidence that a vehicle had entered the water", according to a PSNI spokesman.
The sunken car was spotted by a member of the public on Saturday. It was apparently about 250 yards downstream of where the tyre tracks were first reported.
The ombudsman's office has confirmed that an inquiry is to be carried out as to why the car was not located following the initial report.
Mr Gordon, who was self-employed, is understood to have lived on his own in a flat in Draperstown. He had not been reported missing. Police want to establish his movements for the two weeks before December 8th.
A PSNI spokesman said the incident was being treated as a "serious fatal road traffic collision".
Local SDLP councillor and district policing partnership member, Kate Lagan, said serious questions had to be asked as to why the PSNI had not located the car.
"My sincerest sympathies are with the family and friends of this man," she said. "This is a terribly sad situation and the entire community here are shocked.
"There are serious questions to be asked about the police handling of this situation. The weather on December 8th was very bad, with ferocious rain all day long, making driving conditions extremely dangerous. So when someone was concerned enough to alert police to car track marks leading to the river, then the police should have carried out a proper investigation.
"The Police Ombudsman's office must investigate the police handling of this situation as a matter of urgency."
A police spokesman said a member of the public had reported seeing tyre tracks veering off the road near the river on December 8th. "Police attended and checked the scene. However, at that time there was no evidence that a vehicle had entered the river and no vehicle was discovered," he said.