Harbour workers helped a man trapped in icy waters during an early morning rescue.

The man, who was discovered in distress beneath a quay area in Lowestoft Harbour having been in the icy waters of Lake Lothing, was helped to safety by harbour workers, as emergency services responded on Wednesday morning (February 10).

Lowestoft RNLI's volunteer lifeboat crew was alerted along with HM Coastguard and ambulance services to help Suffolk Police with the early morning incident.

A lifeboat spokesman said: "Lowestoft Harbour Authority personnel had just come on duty and were preparing to take a pilot boat out to sea to bring a ship into Lowestoft when, just after 6.15am, they heard shouting and realised that someone was in distress and had almost certainly been in the water.

"They discovered that a man was trapped beneath a suspended quay on the south-west corner of the bridge channel."

With emergency services alerted, the lifeboat spokesman added: "Access to the area beneath the quay is restricted by a padlocked gate and the harbour workers used bolt croppers to reach the quay and rescue the man just as the Lowestoft RNLI lifeboat arrived."

The man was helped into an ambulance, before the lifeboat crew and coastguard rescue officers conducted a search amid fears that a second person might be in the water, but they were stood down when no one was found.