A family had to be rescued after a boat ran aground on the muddy banks of the river Bure.

HM Coastguard at Gorleston and the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston RNLI lifeboat were paged by Humber coastguard headquarters at 3.25pm today to reports of a sinking holiday cruiser two miles from Yarmouth.

Gorleston coastguard said the hired boat was 'high and dry' with six people onboard.

A spokesman said: 'After initial confused reports of the location, a crew member used his local knowledge and contacts to confirm that the boat was aground on the lower Bure one mile upstream of Marina Keys.

'The Gorleston inshore lifeboat was unable to pull the boat back into the water so the decision to remove the hirers for their own safety was taken.'

The family was taken back to Great Yarmouth Yacht Station where they were met by the boat hire company.

Denise Kilpatrick, spokesman for the Yarmouth and Gorleston RNLI, said: 'The inshore lifeboat found the cruiser with six persons on board, three children and three adults. It was believed to be a navigation error. All persons were ok so were taken off the cruiser and taken to Great Yarmouth Yacht Station by the ILB where they were met by Gorleston Coastguard mobile unit.

'The hire craft company came to meet the family and arranged transport back to the hire company yard to get a new boat.

The cruiser was due to be collected later by the hire company.