At around 10am, Asia Litten took a walk to watch her mother kayaking in the Exmouth estuary. But after spotting an empty van floating in the water, she posted pictures online in the hope of finding the vehicle's owner.

       Ms Litten said she uploaded images of the stranded van onto a Facebook community page.

       She said: “The windows were down, but no one was inside.

       “I shared on the Exmouth Community page in the hope of alerting the owner!"

       It later emerged the van owner parked on the slipway at the Imperial Recreation Ground and forgot to move it.

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       As the tide rose, the slipway became submerged and dragged the van into the estuary.

       Speaking to Devon Live, Ms Litten said: “It turns out someone parked up, had a few drinks and forgot they left it there!"

       Another passer-by took photos of the rescue efforts, as a 4x4 truck tried to “winch the van out” of the thick mud that lines the estuary.

       In response to Ms Litten’s Facebook post, social media users poked fun about the van’s voyage.