A Dutch yacht drifting towards a sandbank off the coast after becoming stranded with engine failure sparked a lifeboat call.

The single-handed sailor aboard the 35ft yacht had to call for assistance when he could not get his engine started off the Suffolk coast.

Having sailed from Ijmuiden in the Netherlands, the 35ft yacht was heading to Lowestoft when it got into difficulties.

Fearing he was drifting towards a sandbank and in a vulnerable position, the yachtsman put out a call for help.

It led to Lowestoft Lifeboat responding, as Coxswain John Fox said: "We launched our RNLI lifeboat ‘Patsy Knight’ just after 2.15pm on Thursday, June 27 and located the yacht four miles off the harbour entrance, right at the end of the Stanford Channel.

"The sea conditions were a bit choppy with two-to-three-foot waves and it was quite breezy.

"His vessel couldn’t make any headway, so after assessing the situation we decided that undertaking a tow was the safest way to assist the yachtsman.

"We threw him a line and towed him into the RNSYC Marina."

Later in the day, at 5.45pm on Thursday, the volunteer crew of the Lowestoft Lifeboat were called out once again.

They responded - along with police and the HM Coastguard Rescue Team - to conduct a shoreline search as they looked for a missing person.

A lifeboat spokesman said: "The search began in the Claremont Pier area and then extended northwards.

"After searching for an hour, the lifeboat was stood down at 7pm."