Two RNLI lifeboats, an RAF helicopter and the coastguard spent an hour searching for two teenagers who disappeared in a rubber dinghy last night.

The pair had left Dymchurch beach at 7pm without life jackets, flares or a radio. They were in a three-metre inflatable dinghy with a two horsepower engine.

When the pair failed to return by 10pm the alarm was raised, calling out RNLI boats from Dungeness and Littlestone and an RAF helicopter from Wattisham.
But the would-be rescuers found the teens safe at home at 11pm.

The RNLI gives frequent warnings of the danger of going out to sea without being prepared.

Stuart Adams, coxswain of the Dungeness lifeboat, said: “All the rescue services were relieved to hear the two teenagers were not in any danger and were safe and well.”