A family who are desperately trying to find their loved one, who was swept out to sea while holidaying in Bali, have raised enough money to hire a search helicopter.

Graham Smith, from Gravesend, went missing while snorkelling off the idyllic Blue Lagoon bay in the Padangbai area of the Indonesian island.

The dad-of-six had been celebrating retirement with his partner of 36 years, Dianne, when he ran into difficulties while exploring the waters last Wednesday.

A search and rescue mission was launched shortly after, in collaboration with the local police.

They had been searching land and sea every day since but after more than a week they still haven't found the British citizen and grandfather-of-eleven.

The official Balinese search was due to come to an end yesterday and the 67-year-old's family set up a JustGiving page to help fund and extend the search mission.

Today, £20,339 of the £19,300 target had been raised to help the family who hope to conduct an extra two-day search and hire a helicopter which costs £1,600 per hour.

Son Adam posted on the page, saying: "Incredible, we are blown away by the immediate support and love by all of our family, friends and strangers, that are not so strange to us now.

"Our hearts are a little bit warmer and hope a little bit brighter to bring our Dad home.

"Because of you we now have the full use of the search helicopter.

"We were also lucky enough to have lend of the Indonesian Navy helicopter for extra support as it was passing through.

"We are now hiring as many boats and eyes on boats as possible to cover tidal paths mapped by the SAR HQ Team."

Even though the family reached their target, they did explain more funds would help them widen their search.

The JustGiving page can be viewed here.

Adam added: "The more we raise, the more boats and manpower we can resource.

"This can further widen our search area and help with any other hiccups or possibly open up more search options.

"Thank you all, your support keeps us going."