A Dutch woman was rescued from her yacht after she broke a bone in her upper arm and suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder following a fall.

Coastguard rescue officers from HM Coastguard Lowestoft and Southwold were involved in the 'challenging' rescue last Friday evening.

They were assisted by firefighters in lifting the injured woman from her vessel, which was moored at the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club in Lowestoft, onto a basket stretcher and carrying her across two other boats to get the woman to the pontoon.

With the coastguards called out at 6.50pm on Friday, May 26 to assist the East of England Ambulance Service and a fire crew from Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, David Burwood, coastguard rescue officer, said the woman had 'fallen on her yacht and was in significant pain.'

Mr Burwood said: 'The lady, from the Netherlands, was on her own yacht when she fell and damaged her left arm on a wooden seat. We were alerted at 6.50pm saying the person was injured, required assistance and needed to be moved for further treatment.

'It was a challenging one as its not a rescue we do very often, but we train for incidents like this all the time.'

The team of eight coastguard rescue officers, four firefighters and ambulance personnel were all involved in lifting the woman on the stretcher basket across the two yachts and onto the pontoon, so she could then be taken to the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston for treatment.

Mr Burwood said: 'The lady was in a lot of pain and we believe she suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder as well as breaking a bone in her upper arm. We had to move her from her own yacht berth, lifting her across two other yachts to the pontoon.'

In a Facebook post, the coastguards added: 'We would like to thank the assistance of a female Dutch doctor, who was on board her own vessel and also assisted.'

The coastguards teams eventually arrived back on station at Lowestoft at about 10pm.