Two rescued in South Shields as boat capsizes in 60mph winds

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The all weather lifeboat recovering the dinghyImage source, Tynemouth RNLI
Image caption,

Tynemouth RNLI said the sea conditions were "extremely choppy" with winds gusting more than 60mph

Two people were rescued when a boat capsized in South Shields as winds reached more than 60mph.

The Humber Coastguard received a report at 12:25 GMT that a sailing dinghy had capsized close to the pier.

Tynemouth RNLI said the sea conditions were "extremely choppy", but the two sailors were rescued from the water.

In a separate incident, a windsurfer was rescued after a person entered the sea to help him when he was separated from his board in the water at Seaburn.

The two men swam to shore and were checked over by the coastguard team.

The inshore lifeboat with the capsized dinghyImage source, Tynemouth RNLI
Image caption,

The capsized boat was towed to South Shields beach

Adrian Don, from Tynemouth RNLI, said: "Our lifeboats were requested to launch to what was thought to be two people in the sea in very poor conditions.

"Thankfully the two sailors were quickly recovered from the water by other sailing club members but we still needed to recover the capsized dinghy which was achieved by our volunteer crew members despite the fierce winds and very choppy sea.

"As this incident was ongoing our all weather lifeboat was tasked to another potentially life-threatening situation with a windsurfer who had got into difficulty near Seaburn but again this was thankfully resolved without anyone being injured."

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