A couple were rescued by the coastguard when their yacht caught fire off the North-East coast.

The pair put out a Mayday call and waited for the coastguard when their 28ft yacht, Kingfisher, caught fire half-a-mile off Hartlepool.

An electrical fault is thought to have caused the blaze, which at one point threatened to engulf the vessel.

But by the time the coastguard arrived, the pair, both from Huddersfield and in their 20s, had managed to contain the flames.

Stewart Flack, of Tyne Tees Coastguard, described the rescue operation.

He said: "We received a Mayday signal from the Kingfisher at around 2.40pm.

"They appeared to be in some difficulty, because an electrical fault had caused a fire on board.

"Thankfully, when the RNLI lifeboat from Hartlepool and the coastguard arrived, they had contained the fire and the situation was not quite so serious."

The fire caught hold in two parts of the boat, so the coastguard had difficulty extinguishing it. However, they kept the fires apart and put them out while they towed the stricken craft to Hartlepool marina.

Mr Flack said: "The couple did everything right and made sure they signalled us immediately. For us, it was a textbook call-out.

"Having said that, it could have been a lot more serious. A fire on board, even though they were only half-a-mile out to sea, could have had dire consequences.

"They would have had lifejackets, but if the fire had really taken hold they would have had only one place to go - into the sea."

The Kingfisher was towed into Hartlepool marina at about 3.45pm.