Five sailors stranded off the Sheppey coast were rescued - after tying themselves to a buoy.

Volunteer lifeboat crews from Sheerness were called out to the 25ft motorboat at 9.43pm last night after being alerted by the Coastguard.

The Eleanor inshore lifeboat was launched into action and, despite poor visibility, found the vessel mooored to a navigation buoy in the Swale.

Robin Castle, coxswain of the charity’s Sheerness lifeboat, said: "The fog meant visibility was down to about 50m, which led to the people aboard the motorboat losing their way.

"They did the right thing by mooring up to a buoy and calling for help."

The lifeboat crew escorted the vessel back to Queenborough Harbour just after 11pm.

Sheerness RNLI is currently looking for volunteers to support the lifeboat station.

Whether you fancy being a fundraiser, committee member, cake baker or crew member, there are a host of volunteer roles that need to be filled.

For more information and to register an interest, email Sheerness@rnli.org.uk