A couple have thanked firefighters for saving their lives after their canoe capsized as they paddled to a picnic site.

Firefighters, police and ambulance crews were scrambled to the River Medway, near Teston Bridge Country Park, at 2.25pm after a fisherman spotted the overturned vessel.

A police helicopter was also called.

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The man and woman were successfully rescued from the water by fire fighters.

Aaron Hughes, Maidstone fire crew manager, said: "My crew put on dry suits and used safety lines to go into the water, swam out to reach the couple who were clinging onto a tree overhanging the river. With the help of our colleagues from Kent Police we were able to bring the pair to safety."

The couple were given precautionary checks by ambulance crews at the scene.

The man said: "Thank you so much to the firefighters for saving our lives.

"I'm an experienced canoeist and have been on the river hundreds of times but we were caught by the current as we tried to take the canoe to the opposite side of the bank for a picnic."

It came a day after Teston Bridge had to be closed after a storm caused part of it to break away.

It has since reopened, after being patched up with metal railings and bollards.