Two police officers searching for a missing woman had to be rescued from a Happisburgh beach after getting cut off by the tide.

The Norfolk Police officers were looking for a "high-risk missing person" on the beach on Saturday night when they were cut off.

The woman was later found using a thermal image camera on a nearby beach when the lifeboat was called to help the two officers.

Philip Smith, from the RNLI Happisburgh Lifeboat, said one boat was asked "to recover two police officers who had been searching the beach towards Happisburgh and found themselves cut off by the tide".

Mr Smith said: "The Coastguard tasked us with picking up two police officers who'd been searching the beach just below Happisburgh church, and the tide had come in and they had got cut off, so we went in and picked them up and returned them to Walcott."

Coastguards at Bacton said the team paged at 7.51pm on Saturday to a high-risk missing person in the Walcott area.

A spokesperson said: "Teams were deployed to various locations from Mundesley to Happisburgh. Once more details came in, it was decided that more assets were needed.

"After being missing for over three hours the missing person was located by Mundesley Independent Lifeboat using a thermal image camera. The person was very cold but safe and well."

Mundesley Independent Lifeboat said on Facebook: "Happisburgh Lifeboat were also launched initially to assist us in the search but were diverted to another incident.

"We purchased the thermal imaging camera from donations to the service so to you all that have supported us, thank you."

A Norfolk Police spokeswoman confirmed two officers "were at risk of becoming cut off" and were helped off the beach.

After the incident, members of the public praised the emergency services for their help.

One commenter on HM Coastguard Bacton's Facebook page said: "Well done to all involved. Yet again your teamwork has shown your value to the community."