Four people and a dog were saved by the RNLI from a sinking boat near Hartlepool on Sunday (July 28).

The five metre craft had found itself in distress a mile out to sea and a call was made to the coastguard for help at 4:10pm

The RNLI dispatched the inshore lifeboat 'Solihull' and the all weather lifeboat 'Betty Huntbatch' at 4:25pm and were alongside the casualty vessel within a few minutes.

A local pilot boat had gone to assist the floundering vessel and had taken three people and a dog off the boat until the arrival of the Hartlepool lifeboats.

The three people and dog were then transferred to the all weather lifeboat leaving the skipper of the boat to assist two lifeboat crewmembers who had been placed aboard his vessel with a salvage pump to pump the water out.

The vessel was then escorted back to the Ferry Road lifeboat station by the inshore lifeboat to await the tide so that it could return safely to Hartlepool Marina a short time later again escorted by the inshore lifeboat.

Hartlepool Coastguards returned the occupants of the boat from the lifeboat station to the marina.

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Hartlepool RNLI coxswain Robbie Maiden said: "A quick response and great teamwork from both the volunteer crew of the inshore and all weather lifeboats.

"We brought the incident to a safe conclusion and we must say thank you to the skipper of the pilot boat and the local Coastguard team for their assistance during the incident."

Both lifeboats were made ready for service again by 6.30pm