An emergency rescue operation was launched this evening after a man slipped onto a mudbank creek and fell unconscious in Strood.

The Sea King RAF helicopter landed on the former Civic Centre car park and Medway Coastguard and Sheerness Inshore Lifeboat were on standby after the alarm was raised just after 5pm.

A crew from Strood fire station reached the man, believed to be in his 20s and a Polish national, just before 6pm and he was taken by ambulance to Medway Maritime Hospital.

It was believed train services were disrupted while the drama unfurled.

Richard Rodgers, the coastguard's deputy station officer, said: "Until the person is recovered, we can't take any chances, so it was a full blown emergency operation.

"It is is not believed the man was seriously injured."

The incident happened at an area known locally as Jane's Creek.