A fishing boat was rescued off the coast by a leisure vessel after suffering a catastrophic engine failure.

The volunteer crew of Lowestoft RNLI lifeboat "Patsy Knight" were called out at 11.16am today (July 31) when a local fishing boat ran into difficulties with its gearbox.

Second coxswain Karl Jackson said: "The fishing boat called the UK Coastguard for help as they were at risk of hitting the sandbank.

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"They had dropped anchor but realised that it was dragging.

"When we reached the eight-metre-long boat it was 200 yards from the pierheads and close to the edge of the Newcome Sands."

The three crew on board the vessel said that their gearbox had developed a fault that caused the engine to fail.

A rigid inflatable boat that had come from the harbour to help had already attached a tow line to the boat.

John Kitching, the skipper of the Jet Adventure leisure boat which had come to its aid, said: "We were preparing our boat to take sightseers on a trip to Scorby Sands when we heard the call for help on the radio.

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"As the stranded boat was so close to the harbour entrance I decided to go to help.

"Together with my crewman we quickly reached the fishing boat and threw them a line to try to hold them off the sandbank.

"The lifeboat arrived about 10 minutes later and we passed the towline to them. They expressed their gratitude for our help."

Mr Jackson added: "We took over the tow from the leisure boat and with relatively calm sea conditions we were able to bring the boat safely into the marina."