LIFEBOAT crews were called into action on Bank Holiday Monday after a yacht with three people onboard became stranded following an engine failure.

At just after 8am, a team from the Walton and Frinton RNLI was deployed to Stone Point, in Walton Backwaters, to assist the HM Coastguard.

The two life-saving agencies had received reports of a vessel which had got into difficulty after its engine cut-out, and a lack of wind left it unable to sail back to the coast.

Upon arrival, the crew aboard the Irene Muriel Rees lifeboat attached a tow to the yacht, before returning it to its home port at Shotley Marina.

When they arrived, the team and the three people who had been on the white yacht, were met by a team from the Holbrook Coastguard, who helped the yacht through the marina's lock and into a berth.

Three hours after initially being deployed, the Walton and Frinton lifeboat crew returned to their berth at Walton Pier, just after 11am.