TWO fishermen whose boat was drifting dangerously off the North Devon coast were rescued by Minehead’s volunteer Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) crew on Saturday.

The pair had left Minehead in a 24-foot cabin cruiser for a fishing trip early on Saturday morning but the vessel suffered engine failure on the way down channel.

They switched to their auxiliary engine but that also failed - the fault being traced to contaminated fuel.

Minehead RNLI’s Atlantic 85 lifeboat was launched soon after 10 am in response to the men’s distress call.

But lifeboat helm Phil Sanderson said the tide had already carried the vessel some way from its first reported position by the time the lifeboat arrived at Hurlstone Point.

Mr Sanderson said: “The tide was running quite quickly and by the time we caught up with them they were off Glenthorne, some way off the land and in an area where the water is too deep to anchor.

“If we had not got to them, they would simply have carried on drifting down towards Lynmouth.”

The cabin cruiser was taken in tow and returned to a safe anchorage at Minehead to await high tide and a return to the harbour.