LIFEBOAT crews braved gale force winds to rescue a pregnant holiday maker from a remote river in Suffolk.

The dramatic rescue took place in the early hours of Sunday during “poor” weather conditions.

Coastguards received a call from East Anglian Ambulance Control that a 36-year-old woman on a holiday cruiser had become ill. The cruiser was moored in a remote area of the River Waveney downstream from Beccles.

Due to the cruiser’s isolated location ambulance crews were unable to reach the woman who was thought to be three-and-a-half months pregnant.

Ambulance crews were also hampered by gale-force winds and the fact that the vessel did not have any lighting.

Yarmouth Coastguard established the position of the cruiser and condition of the woman, who was lying quietly in a cabin.

The South Broads RNLI inland lifeboat was requested to launch to a craft and their crew picked up an ambulance paramedic en-route.

The lifeboat located the cruiser and put an RNLI crewman onboard, who brought the vessel up river to Beccles Quay while the paramedic attended to the patient.

The woman was transferred to an ambulance and taken to hospital, but her present condition is not known. Watch manager Mario Siano said: “The couple were holiday-makers from Devon and did not have the necessary experience to be able to drive the cruiser through such terrain and conditions at night.

“Therefore we got medical help to where the woman was and brought the boat to the ambulance.”

ken.mcerlain@eadt.co.uk