The mysterious disappearance had haunted the island community since Christmas, but it now looks as if the long search for a 21-year-old merchant navy cadet who went missing almost three months ago is at an end.

The mysterious disappearance had haunted the island community since Christmas, but it now looks as if the long search for a 21-year-old merchant navy cadet who went missing almost three months ago is at an end.

The people of South Uist have been looking for Simon MacMillan since he vanished in the early hours of Boxing Day in the township of Linique in the Iochdar area of the island.

He was getting off a minibus taking revellers back from a Christmas dance at Daliburgh, further south on the island, when last seen.

A group of locals discovered a body at around 10.30am yesterday in Loch Bee, just south of the road between Linique and Mr MacMillan's home in Ardmore.

Northern Constabulary said the body had not yet been formally identified but a spokeswoman added that there was no record of any other missing persons in the area. Islanders yesterday appeared to accept that it was Mr MacMillan.

Local councillor Peter Carlin said: "We are 99% certain it is Simon. It is a fantastic relief for his family and the community who never gave up looking for him.

"Simon's family can now start the grieving process properly and bury their son."

Mr MacMillan, a student at Glasgow Nautical College, had joined a pipe-laying ship in Norway about three weeks before he went missing.

He had got an unexpected Christmas holiday after the vessel had to go for repairs.

His parents Angus and Elizabeth contacted police when their son, who was last seen wearing just jeans and a shirt, failed to return home after being dropped off after the Christmas party.

An intensive search of the area was carried out, involving specialist divers, dog teams, helicopters and boats.

Hundreds of islanders also scoured the island, with people travelling from Berneray, Barra, Skye and the mainland to help in the effort. Local businesses clubbed together to buy helicopter flying time.

Angus MacMillan also bought sonar equipment to search the small lochs which are dotted across the island.

Northern Constabulary brought in Mark Harrison, the national search adviser to the National Policing Improvement Agency, who was also involved in the search for Madeleine McCann.

Football legend Kenny Dalglish was recruited to help appeal for information and police issued several statements urging anyone, in particular the occupants of a car seen parked not far from where Simon left the minibus and another car seen on the beach later on Boxing Day, to come forward.

Last month islanders expressed their "anger and dismay" after Northern Constabulary said it was no longer organising search parties.

The announcement sparked criticism from members of the local community, which issued a statement saying: "It has been extremely frustrating to have the police presence gradually reduced over time with little or no explanation"

But the following day Angus MacMillan, who runs a fish farming business and chairs the body which runs the 93,000-acre community-owned South Uist Estate, attended a meeting with police and said he had been "reassured that everything possible is being done".

Residents continued to coordinate search teams and yesterday it was a group of locals who found a body on the shore of the huge brackish loch which dominates the landscape of the north end of the island of South Uist.