Lifeboats were were called after a yacht ran aground at Warden Point on the Isle of Sheppey yesterday morning.

The volunteer crew of the Sheerness inshore lifeboat launched just after 11am after the craft with two men on board got into difficulties at the eastern end of the island.

One of the crew, an elderly man, is diabetic. His condition was reported to be deteriorating quickly.

The lifeboat arrived just before 11.30am and the crew administered glucose gel to the sick man.

He and his companion were lifted off the sinking vessel and taken to the shore at Leysdown where they were handed over to waiting paramedics.

After clearing away debris the lifeboat crew working with the Whitstable lifeboat towed it to shallower water then secured it with rope and anchors.