Part of a boat with 10 people on board caught fire off the coast of Margate.

A Mayday distress signal was issued by the wind farm support vessel - which had two crew members aboard and eight passengers - at about 6pm yesterday, reporting a blaze in one of its engine rooms.

An RNLI lifeboat was sent to the scene about 15 miles off the coast along with three other windfarm support boats.

The affected compartment was sealed off and its fixed firefighting system was activated.

As a precaution, the eight passengers were transferred to another boat.

An RNLI spokesman said: "Once on the scene the lifeboat put one of its crew members on board the casualty vessel to assist the crew to establish a tow with a third windfarm support vessel, which subsequently towed the vessel to the safety of Ramsgate harbour, escorted by the lifeboat.

"Once the craft had been secured alongside at Ramsgate, the lifeboat provided additional safety stand-by cover while fire teams confirmed the fire had been extinguished."

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