Emergency services, including Hunstanton RNLI, called to help rescue child off Heacham North Beach

Emergency services were called to assist with finding and rescuing a child off the West Norfolk coast this afternoon.

A hovercraft crew helped with the rescue of the youngster who had last been seen in an inflatable off Heacham North Beach.

A volunteer crew from Hunstanton RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) launched the hovercraft from Old Hunstanton beach after receiving the call from HM Coastguard at around 2.27pm.

On arrival, the hovercraft crew located a jet skier with the child onboard and the inflatable in tow.

They escorted the jet ski safely to the beach, where the Hunstanton Coastguard Rescue team took them into their care.

Crew on the hovercraft returned to the station at 3.30pm to be refuelled and ready for service again.

Norfolk Police, East Anglian Air Ambulance and NARS (Norfolk Accident Rescue Service) were also called to the scene.

Norfolk Police has been contacted for comment.

It was Hunstanton RNLI’s second call of the day, after they were sent to find and help a jet skier, last seen off Heacham South Beach, at about 11.05am.

After the crew launched from Old Hunstanton Beach, having received a call from HM Coastguard, the lifeboat located and made contact with the casualty craft 1.5 miles off the coast.

Having undertaken a health check of the casualty, the jet ski was taken under tow and both were landed safely into the care of Hunstanton Coastguard Rescue Team.

The lifeboat returned to the station at 11.40am.