LOWESTOFT Lifeboat was called out to a cargo vessel today after a seaman was injured.

The Spirit of Lowestoft launched just before 7am after reports that a crew-member on the 525ft American Tern, about four miles off Lowestoft harbour, had suffered a badly crushed thumb.

The lifeboat took the injured man off the ship and brought him back to port, before he was transferred to the James Paget University Hospital at Gorleston.

The operation was coordinated by Great Yarmouth Coastguard and took about half an hour.