A man and a woman had to be rescued by the Sheerness inshore lifeboat crew after their rubber dinghy suffered engine failure in the Medway Estuary.

The volunteers were called out in their lifeboat Buster, at 10.14pm last night after reports the small craft had suffered engine failure whilst returning to shore from a yacht.

A spokesman for the crew said: “The precise location of the dinghy was difficult to establish due to the fact that the only method of communication with the casualty was by mobile phone.

“Having made contact with the dinghy the crew located the tiny craft close inshore north of the Kingsnorth Jetty.”

After establishing the pair were fine, they were taken onboard the lifeboat which then took them back to Gillingham Pier.