The lifeboat was launched after Thames Coastguard received a call from the yacht Spitfire, on passage from Essex to Queenborough, reporting that a member of the crew was suffering from severe chest pains, and possibly having a heart attack.

As well as requesting the launch of the lifeboat, the coastguard also scrambled an RAF Sea King helicopter from Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk.

The lifeboat launched at 1518, and arrived alongside the yacht, off Harty Ferry in the River Swale, approximately 10 minutes later.

A lifeboat crewmember was put aboard the yacht, and administered oxygen to the casualty. When the helicopter arrived the casualty was transferred onto the lifeboat, before being winched into the helicopter and flown to the William Harvey Hospital at Ashford.

The helicopter approaching the lifeboat

The lifeboat crew, with the RAF winchman also now aboard, prepare the casualty for winching into the helicopter