Four people were rescued from a sinking boat off the north Kent coast in the early hours.

The alarm was raised at around 1.15am when the 58ft motor cruiser called Lily Louise started taking in water.

RNLI teams from Whitstable and Margate were launched to help the vessel off Reculver in a rescue operation coordinated by the Dover Coastguard.

The people on board were taken to safety while water was pumped from the engine room.

Whitstable Lifeboat helmsman Dave Parry said: “This was a good joint operation between the two lifeboats.

"We launched at 1.18am and located the craft just south of the Copperas Buoy off Reculver about 12 minutes later.

“We transferred two lifeboat crew members and a salvage pump on board the vessel which was making about one knot westward and the lifeboat crew commenced pumping water from the engine room."

Margate Lifeboat arrived to help at around 2am and towed the crusier to Whitstable. It arrived at the south quay at around 3am.

Herne Bay Coastguard and a lifeboat shore party were waiting there to help with the mooring.

Margate lifeboat crews continued pumping to remove as much water as possible before leaving to return to station.

The boat's owner Jeff Powell, who had just bought the craft in Ramsgate, said: "We were on passage from Ramsgate to Galleons Marina on the Thames when we started taking in water off the North Foreland.

"We were very pleased to see the two lifeboats, it was 10 out of 10 for service."

There have now been 52 calls this year for the Whitstable Lifeboat.