A lifeboat crew brought home to safety a motor cruiser with two people on board drifting in open sea off the Suffolk coast.

The eight-metre long vessel, which was travelling from Lowestoft to Ipswich, had run out of fuel and was drifting swiftly due to wind and tide.

Its crew found themselves in trouble 10 miles north of Felixstowe's Landguard Point.

Volunteers of Harwich RNLI were paged at 8.45pm following a "Pan-Pan" call to the UK coastguard.

A "Pan-Pan" call means urgent help is required but there is no imminent danger.

The charity's Severn Class lifeboat Albert Brown was swiftly launched but by the time it caught up with the drifting vessel, they were six miles east of Orford Ness.

They pulled alongside, and after assessing the situation decided to bring the motor cruiser under tow into Shotley Marina late on Tuesday.

Here, they were met by volunteers from the Holbrook Coastal Rescue Team. East Anglian Daily Times: RNLI crew passing by Felixstowe docksRNLI crew passing by Felixstowe docks (Image: Harwich RNLI)

In a statement, the RNLI said: "Once alongside and the casualties were assessed, it was deemed the safest option was to take the vessel under tow to Shotley Marina, where they were met by volunteers from the Holbrook Coastguard Rescue Team at the marina’s lock at 00:30am on Wednesday morning."