Three women were injured when a dive boat overturned on a Norfolk beach yesterday - even before it had gone to sea.The accident happened at Sea Palling as the boat was being backed into the sea with seven members of a diving club from Hertfordshire on board.

Three women were injured when a dive boat overturned on a Norfolk beach yesterday - even before it had gone to sea.

The accident happened at Sea Palling as the boat was being backed into the sea with seven members of a diving club from Hertfordshire on board.

Coastguards said the rigid-hulled inflatable boat flipped as it was being turned to enter the water, leaving three women from Hemel Hempstead injured.

One suffered suspected spinal injuries and was taken by air ambulance to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital after the 10am incident. Two others suffered leg pains, with one person being taken to hospital by ambulance and the other later by car.

Happisburgh coastguard rescue team and paramedics were drafted in to help after RNLI lifeguards at Sea Palling raised the alarm. Norfolk police are investigating the incident.

Coastguard watch manager Mario Siano, at Yarmouth, said they advised people not to ride in boats while they were being transported to the water because “vessels that are being towed along the beach can, as has occurred in this case, easily overturn on soft sand”.