Lowestoft lifeboat launched last night (Tuesday) to rescue a fishing boat.

They received a call for assistance at 7.40pm from Great Yarmouth Coastguard from a small local, long line fishing boat, Icene.

The boat was 18 miles north east of Great Yarmouth when smoke was seen coming from the engine room hatch and the crew requested an escort back to the harbour.

Lowestoft’s RNLI all-weather lifeboat, The Spirit of Lowestoft, had only been back in port for a few minutes and the volunteer crew were still on station when the call came in – having just returned from a RNLI Divisional Inspector’s half-yearly exercise at sea.

Lowestoft coxswain John Fox said: “We launched the lifeboat very quickly and when we reached the vessel, smoke was issuing from the fishing boat’s engine room. It appeared that the vessel’s engine was overheating and to avoid it catching fire or damaging the engine further we decided to tow the boat back to port.”

Coxswain Fox added: “In a first for us, towards the latter stages of this incident, we dealt with Humber coastguard by radio for the first time following the transfer of night-time responsibility from Great Yarmouth coastguard.”