The crew were called shortly before 5am today to reports of a 27-ft yacht needing assistance out at sea.

The Corumba, which had two people onboard, experienced engine failure whilst on passage off Blakeney Overfalls and contacted Humber Coastguard requesting a tow into Wells harbour.

The lifeboat station was subsequently contacted at 10:24pm on Sunday and asked to render assistance. As it was approaching low water, there was no prospect of bringing the yacht into Wells at that time.

The yacht was in no immediate danger, so it was decided to launch on the first of the flood tide in the early hours of this morning.

The crew were paged at 4.22am and the lifeboat Doris M Mann of Ampthill launched twelve minutes later and proceeded towards the yacht which continued to sail towards Wells during the night but had not made much headway.

The Lifeboat arrived on scene at 5.32am and placed a crewmember onboard, who then attached the lifeboat's towline. The tow commenced at 5.45am and the yacht was safely secured on the Wells Harbour town pontoons at 7.25am. The lifeboat returned to Station and was recovered at 7.40am. No one was hurt in the incident.

Meanwhile, Gorleston's in-shore lifeboat was called out shortly after midnight to assist police with an incident. It was stood down 30 minutes later.