Volunteer lifesavers rescued a survey ship crew member who had collapsed and suffered a head injury off the Suffolk coast.

Coastguard officers asked the Aldeburgh RNLI to carry out a “medevac” rescue after being alerted to the emergency at around 10.50am on Sunday.

The RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat, Freddie Cooper, was launched to attend the survey ship, which was to the south of Aldeburgh.

“It had been reported that one of the survey ship crew had collapsed and sustained a head injury,” said an RNLI spokesman.

“Once on scene, two crew from the Freddie Cooper transferred to the survey ship to assess the casualty, who by now was conscious and sitting up.”

The casualty was transferred to the inshore lifeboat, Susan Scott, which was on an exercise nearby, and taken to the beach where they were treated by ambulance crew. They were taken to hospital for further treatment